OF  THE 


J 


*  -*-\ 


V 


HIS  EMINENCE  JOHN  McCLOSKEY, 

Cai'dinal  of  the  Holy  licnnan  Church,  a  ml   \rchhishop  of  Xetc  Torlc, 


^HISTORY 


OF  THE 


CATHOLIC  CHURCH 


IN   THE 


UNITED  STATES: 


From   the   Earliest  Settlement   op   the  Country   to    thb 
Present  Time.      With  Biographical  Sketches,  Ac- 
counts OF  Religious  Orders,  Councils. 


BY 

HENRY  DE  COURCY  and  JOHN  GILMARY  SHEA. 


WITH  THE  APPBOBATION    OF  HIS  EMnSTENCE, 

JOHN,    CARDINAL    McCLOS,^^'^^^, 

Archbishop  OP  New  ToBK.   a   ^  ^>^"* 

Property  of -^^  ^  ^^     .a: 

^..  hz^f^  j^EW  YORK :  ^^t^2LL^ 

Please  refymplp  j .    KENEDY, 

;raduatl^TRW61%^diSf"'^^  publishikg  house, 

o'IBakclay  Street. 

Union  13::^^-^ 


2838 


BV 

P.  J.  KENEDY  A^Ji>  JOHN  G.  SHEA. 


PREFACE. 


The  present  work,  in  its  original  form,  relating  mainly  to  the 
origin  and  early  progress  of  the  Church  in  this  country,  has  been 
for  many  years  the  only  work  aftbrding  the  reader  any  general 
view  of  the  advancement  of  our  holy  faith. 

It  has  been  referred  to  as  authority  on  numberless  occasions, 
and  its  general  accuracy  admitted  by  all.  To  render  it  still 
more  valuable,  this  edition  is  enlarged  so  as  to  give  a  distinct 
account  of  the  Church  in  every  part  of  the  United  States. 

The  present  history  gives  the  origin  of  the  Church  in  this 
country  somewhat  fully,  but  treats  of  every  diocese,  from  Maine 
to  Florida— from  the  Atlantic  .to  the  Pacific — and  is  the  only 
■work  from  which  the  reader  can  derive  any  complete  idea  of 
what  has  been  achieved,  in  God's  providence,  by  His  Church  in 
this  portion  of  the  American  continent. 

Though  the  preparation  of  this  volume  required  patient  col- 
lection and  extensive  research,  other  writers  have  copied  it 
without  due  credit,  and  often  added  injustice  to  plagiarism. 

We  trust  to  the  honor  and  uprightness  of  our  people  that  they 
will  not  encourage  anything  so  dishonorable. 

John  Gilmary  Shea. 


NOTICE. 

My  published  works  have  been  so  unscrupulously  used  by 
others,  in  defiance  of  ray  copyrights,  that  I  am  now  taking  legal 
proceedings  against  these  dishonest  parties;  and  exprc-ssly  forbid 
the  use  of  matter  iu  this  work,  without  due  permission  and  com- 
pensation. 

John  G.  Shea. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I.— The  Eakly  Indian  Missions. 

Missions  of  the  Norwegians  In  the  antc-Cohimbian  times— Spanish  Missions  In  Florida, 

'Sew  Mexico,  Texas,  and  California—French  Missions  among  the  Indians  In  Maine, 

New  York,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi 11 

Chap.  II.— The  Colonial  Church, 

Maryland— Settled  by  Catholics— Their  persecution— Their  emancipation— From  the 

year  1634  to  1774 22 

Chap.  III.— The  Church  in  the  Republic. 

Maryland— Father  John  Carroll— How  the  United  States  granted  liberty  of  conscience 

to  the  Catholics— Mission  of  Father  Carroll  to  Canada 36 

Chap.  IV. — The  Church  during  the  Revolution. 

Father  Carroll  and  Father  Floquet— Father  Carroll  at  Rock  Creek 47 

Chap.  V.— The  Chukch  in  the  Repltblic. 

Maryland  (1776-1790)— Negotiation  for  the  erection  of  an  Episcopal  See 54 

Chap.  VI. — Diocese  of  Baltimore. 
Consecration  of  Bishop  Carroll— Jesuit  College  at  Georgetown- Sulpltian  Seminary  at 
Baltimore— The  French  Clergy  in  the  United  States— Bishop  Neale  coadjutor— Reor- 
ganization of  the  Society  of  Jesus— Importance  of  French  immigration 63 

Chap.  VIL— The  Church  in  Maryland. 
The  Carmelites— Poor  Clares— Visitation  Nuns— Sisters  of  Charity— Baltimore  an  eccle- 
siastical province  with  four  suffragans— Death  of  Archbishop  Carroll 76 

Chap.  VIIL— Diocese  of  Baltimore.     (1815-1828.) 
Most  Rev.  Leonard  Neale,  second  Archbishop— Most  Rev.  Ambrose  Marechal,  third 
Archbishop— Difficulties  of  his  administration— Progress  of  Catholicity— Bishops  ap- 
pointed for  New  Orleans,  Charleston.  Richmond,  and  Cincinnati— Labors  of  the  Sul- 
pitians— Death  of  Archbishop  Marechal 93 

Chap.  IX.— Diocese  of  Baltimore.     (1838-1829.) 
Most  Rev.  James  "Whitfield,  fourth  Archbishop  of  Baltimore— The  Oblates  of  St.  Fran- 
ces and  the  colored  Catholics— The  Association  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith  and 
the  Leopoldine  Society— First  Provincial  Council  of  Baltimore,  and  a  retrospect  on 
previous  synods  of  the  clergy 113 

Chap.  X.— Diocese  of  Baltimore.     (1829-18^4.) 
Second  Provincial  Council— Decrees  as  to  the  election  of  bishops— Decrees  for  con- 
fiding to  the  Jesuits  the  Negroes  and  Indians— The  colony  of  Liberia  and  Bishop 
Barron— The  Carmelites— Liberality  of  Archbishop  Whitfield— His  character  and 
death  Ii9 

Chap.  XL— Diocese  of  Baltimore.     (1834-1840.) 

Most  Rev.  Samuel  Eccleston,  D.D.,  fifth  Archbishop  of  Baltimore— The  Brothers  of  the 

Christian  Schools— The  Redemptorists— The  German  Catholics— The  Lazarlsts— TMrd 

Council  of  Baltimore— New  Episcopal  Sees— Fourth  Council  of  Baltimore— Bishop 

Forbln- Janson  in  America 141 

5 


6  CONTENTS. 

Chap.  XII.— Diocese  of  Baltimore.     (1840-1846.) 
Decrees  as  to  ecclesiastical  property— Fifth  Council  of  Baltimore— Decrees  against 
divorce  and  mixed  marriages— Subdivision  of  the  dioceses— Sixth  Council  of  Balti- 
more—Decree as  to  the  Immaculate  Conception— Labors  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in 
the  United  States 152 

Cu.vp.  XIII.— Diocese.s  of  Baltimore,  Richmond,  Wheeling,  and 
Wilmington.  (1846-1.S78.) 
Election  of  Pius  IX.— Popularity  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  in  the  United  States— Peter's 
Pence— Seventh  Council  of  Baltimore— Division  of  the  United  States  into  six  ecclesi- 
astical provinces— Death  of  Archbishop  Eccleston— Most  Rev.  Francis  P.  Kenrick, 
sixth  Aixhbishop  of  Baltimore— National  Council  of  Baltimore  and  new  Episcopal 
Sees- Most  Bev.  M.  J.  Spalding— Most  Kcv.  J.  R.  Bayley— Most  Rev.  J.  Gibbous- 
Church  in  Virginia— Diocese  of  Richmond  and  Wheeling— Diocese  of  Wilmington.  164 

Chap.  XIV.— Pennsylvania.     (1G80-1810.) 

First  mission   at  Philadelphia,  Goshenhoppen,  Conewago,  Lancaster— Influence  of 

French  intervention  in  securing  respect  and  toleration  for  Catholicity— The  Augus- 

tlnians  in  Pennsylvania— The  Franciscans- Schism  in  the  German  Church  of  the 

Holy  Trinity— Foundation  of  the  episcopal  See  of  Philadelphia 197 

Chap.  XV.— Diocese  of  Philadelphia.     (1810-1834.) 
The  Right  Rev.  Michael  Egan,  first  bishop— Very  Rev.  Louis  deBarth,  administrator- 
Right  Rev.  Henry  Conwell,  second  bishop— Schism  of  St.  Mary's  Church— Very  Rev- 
William  Mathev»'s,  Administrator— Right  Rev.  Francis  P.  Kenrick,  coadjutor,  then 
third  bishop— Religious  condition  of  the  diocese  in  1834 214 

Chap.  XVI.— Diocese  of  Philadelphia.    (1833-1844.) 

Commencement  and  progress  of  the  anti-Catholic  agitation— Various  manoeuvres  of  the 

Fanatics— The  Xative  party— The  Philadelphia  riots 230 

Chap.  XVII.— Diocese  of  Philadelphia.  (1844-1878.) 
Division  of  the  diocese-State  of  Delaware— The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart— The  Sis- 
ters of  the  Visitation— The  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame— Father  Virgil  Barber  and  his 
family— Works  of  Bishop  F.P.  Kenrick— His  translation  to  the  metropolitan  See  of 
Baltimore- Right  Rev.  John  IST.  Neumann- Most  Rev.  J.  F.  Wood— Diocese  of  Scran- 
ton— Diocese  of  Harrisburg  248 

Chap.  XVIII.— Pennsylvania.     (1750-1840.) 

Diocese  of  Pittsburg— The  Recollects  at  Fort  Duquesne— The  Rev.  Father  Brauers— 

Sketch  of  Prince  Demetrius  Gallitzin -265 

Chap.  XIX.— Diocese  of  Pittsburg — Diocese  of  Erie.  (170;2-1878.) 
The  Abbe  Flagct  at  Pittsburg— The  Rev.  F.  X.  O'Brien  and  Charles  B.  Maeuire— The 
Poor  Clares— The  Colony  of  Asylum— The  Chevalier  John  Keating— Coluny  of  Ear- 
man  Bottom— Episcopate  of  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  O'Connor— Sisters  of  Jlercj^— Tlie 
Brothers  of  the  I're^entation— The  Franciscan  Brothers- The  Benedictines— Passion- 
ists— Early  missions  at  Erie  — Bishop  Flaget— Bishop  Dcmcnec— Bishop  Tuigg  at 
Pittsburg— Bishops  Young  and  Mullen  at  Erie— Sec  of  Allegheny 2S0 

Chap.  XX. — State  of  New  York.    (iG-i;>-17'08.) 

Ml:--sions  among  the  Iroquois— Father  Jogues-Father  Bressani-Father  Le  Jloyne— 

Emigration  of  Christians  to  Canada— Close  of  the  Jesuit  Mis.slons  in  New  York.  307 

CiiAP.  XXI.— Diocese  of  New  York.    (1G40-1760.) 
The  Dutch— The  English  occupation  and  Governor  Dongan -First  Colonial  Assembly 
in  ICa" -Jesuits  at  New  York- Revolution,  and  persecution  of  the  Catholics-Pre- 
tended negro  plot,  and  execution  of  the  Rev.  John  Ury 326 


COlsTTENTS.  7 

Chap.  XXII.— State  of  New  York.    (1776-1786.) 

Constltufion  of  the  State-Tlic  English  Party  and  Protestantism— Commencement  of 

Catholic  worship  in  the  city  of  Xcw  York— St.  Peter's  Church— Father  Whclan  and 

Father  Is'ugeut  -A  trustee  of  St.  Peter's  in  HSO 337 

Chap.  XXIII.— State  and  Diocese  of  New  York.  (1787-1813.) 
Father  O'Brien  and  the  yellow  fever  In  Xew  York— The  negro,  Peter  Toussalnt— The 
Abb6  Sibourg— Fathers  Kohlmaun  and  Fenwick— Erection  of  an  episcopal  Sec  at 
New  York— Eight  Kev.  Luke  Concannen,  first  bishop -His  death  at  Naples -Father 
Benedict  Fcnwick,  administrator— The  New  York  Literary  Institution  —  Father 
Fenwick  and  Thomas  Paine  — Father  Kohlmann  and  the  secrecy  of  the  confes- 
sional    347 

CiiAP.  XXIV.— Diocese  of  New  York.  (1815-1842.) 
F.iglit  Rev.  John  Connolly,  second  Bishop  of  New  York— Condition  of  the  diocese- 
Sketch  of  the  Uev.  F.  A.  Malou-  Eishop  Connolly's  first  acts-Ilis  clergy— The  Kev. 
Mr.  Taylor,  and  his  ambitious  designs- Conversions— The  Rgv.  John  Richard— Spread 
of  Catholicity-Death  of  Bishop  Connolly— Very  Rev.  John  Power,  adhiinistrator— 
Right  Rev.  John  Dubois,  third  Bishop  of  New  York -Visitation  of  his  dioccse-His 
labors  for  the  cause  of  education— Controversies  with  the  Protestants- Very  Rev. 
Felix  Varela-Rev.  Thomas  C.  Lcvins-Difflculties  with  trustees— German  immigra- 
tion—Conversion of  Rev.  Maximilian  OCrtel -Appointment  of  a  coadjutor— Death  of 
Bishop  Dubois 875 

Chap.  XXV.— Diocese  of  NEVf  York.  (163S-1856.) 
Right  Rev.  John  Hughes,  Coadjutor,  and  then  Bishop  of  New  York-He  overthrows 
trustceism— The  school  question— Bishop  Hughes  before  the  Common  Council— St. 
John's  College— The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  and  Madame  Gallitzin— The  Re- 
demptorists— The  Tractarian  movement  and  the  conversions  resulting  from  it— 
The  French  Church  and  Bishop  of  Nancy— Appointment  of  the  Right  Rev.  John 
McCloskey  as  Coadjutor— The  Sisters  of  Mercy-Reorganization  cf  the  Sisters  of 
Charity— Division  of  the  diocese— Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools —Progress  of 
Catholicity  in  other  parts  of  the  diocese— New  York  erected  into  an  Archiepisopal 
See-Erection  of  the  Sees  cf  Brooklyn  and  Nev.-ark -First  Provincial  Council— Most 
Rev.  John  McCloskey-New  Cathedral— Elevation  to  the  Cardinalatc  402 

Chap.  XXVI. — Dioceses  of  Albany,  Buffalo,  Bkookltn,  and  Newark. 

Diocese  of  Albany  -Early  Catholic  affairs- Church  ana  mission  of  the  Presentation  at 
OgderACburg-St.  Regis— Chaplains  at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point-Rev.  Mr.  de  la 
Valinlere  and  his  church  on  Lake  Chamnlain- Church  at  Albany- Early  pastors— 
Increase  of  Catholicity-Appointment  cf  the  Right  Rev.  John  McCloskey  as  first 
bishop— His  administration— Institutions— Religious  Orders— Right  Rev.  J.  J.Conroy 
-Right  Rev.  F.  McNeirney. 

Diocese  cf  BuUalo -French  chaplains  at  Fort  Niagara-Early  Catholic  matters-Ap- 
pcintn:ent  of  the  "Right  Rev.  John  Timcn  as  bichop— The  Jcc-!:it?,  Rcdcmptorists, 
Franciscans,  Christian  Brothers,  and  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart— Sisters  of  Charity, 
Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  Sisters  of  St.  Bridget  and  of  Our  Lady  of  Charity- Right  Rev. 
S.  V.  Ryan. 

Diocese  of  Brooklyn— Catholicity  on  Long  Island-First  Church  in  Brooklyn -Pro- 
gress-Right Kev.  John  Loughlin  first  bishop- Visitation  Nuns- Sisters  cf  Charity- 
Sisters  of  Mercy -Dominican  Sisters— Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor- Priests  of  the  Mis- 
sion—Priests  of  Mercy. 

Diocese  of  Newark-Catholicitv  in  New  Jersey- Its  progress-Appointment  of  Right 
Kev.  James  R.  Bayley  first  bishop -Seton  Hall -Right  Rev.  M.  J.  Conigun 447 


8  CONTEXTS. 

Chap.  XXVII.    (1853-1854.) 
Mission  of  the  Xunclo,  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Bedlnl,  to  the  United  States 496 

Chap.  XXVIII.    (1854-1856.) 
Keaction  against  the  Catholics— Organization  of  the  Know-Nothlngs 498 

cj  Chap.  XXIX.— The  Church  in  New  England. 

Early  history— French  missions  in  Maine— Chapel  in  Vermont— The  Revolution— Part 
of  the  Diocese  of  Baltimore. 

Diocese  of  Boston. -Right  Rev.  John  Cheverus— Right  Rev.  B.J.  Fenwick— Division  of 
the  Diocese-Right  Rev.  J.  B.  Fitzpatrick— Most  Rev.  John  J.  Williams,  first  arch- 
bishop. 

Diocese  of  Hartford.-Rlght  Rev.  William  Tj'ler-Right  Rev.  B.  O'Reilly- Right  Rev. 
F.  P.  McFarland- Division  of  the  diocese— Right  Rev.  Thomas  Galberry. 

Diocese  of  Burlington.- Right  Rev.  L.  de  Goesbriand. 

Diocese  of  Portland.— Right  Rev.  D.  W.  Bacon -Right  Rev.  James  A.  Healy. 

Diocese  of  Springfield.— Right  Rev.  P.  T.  O'Reilly. 

Diocese  of  Providence Right  Rev.  T.  F.  Hendricken 506 

Chap.  XXX. — The  Church  in  the  Southern  States. 

Diocese  of  Charleston. -Early  Spanish  ground-Erection  of  the  see— Right  Rev.  J. 
England-Sistcrsof  OurLady  of  Mercy- Ursulines-Bishop  Clancy,  coadjutor— Right 
Rev.  I.  Reynolds -Right  Rev.  P.  N.  Lynch— The  civil  war— Destruction  of  Catholic 
property. 

Diocese  of  Savannah— Early  history  of  the  Church  In  Georgia— Erection  of  the  see- 
Right  Rev.  F.  X.  Gartlaad-Right  Rev.  John  Barry— Right  Rev.  A.  Ycrot— Right 
Rev.  I.  Persico  — Right  Rev.  W.  H.  Gross  — Plo  Nono  College— Vicariate-Apostolic 
of  North  Carolina-Right  Rev.  J.  Gibbons,  V.  A.-Progress  of  the  Faith 525 

Chap.  XXXL— The  Church  in  the  "West  :  Kentucky. 

Diocese  of  Bardst own. —Early  history— English  and  French— Extent  of  the  diocese- 
Rev.  S.  F.  Badin— Dominican  Fathers— Bishop  Flaget's  coadjutors— Right  Rev.  J.  M. 
David— Right  Rev.  G.  I.  Chabrat-Right  Rev.  M.J.  Spalding— Division  of  the  diocese 
—Dr.  Spalding,  Bishop  of  Louisville— Bloody  Monday— Right  Rev.  P.  J.  Lavialle— 
Right  Rev.  William  McCloskey. 

Diocese  of  Covington.— Right  Rev.  G.  A.  Oarrell— Right  Rev.  A.  M.  Toebbe 537 

Chap.  XXXII.— State  of  Tennessee. 

Diocese  of  Nashville,  1837.— Right  Rev.  R.  P.  Miles— A  bishop  without  a  church  or  priest 

—Progress— Right  Rev.  J.  Whelan— Right  Rev.  P.  A.  Feehan 514 

Chap.  XXXIIL— State  of  Ohio. 

Diocese  of  Cincinnati,  1821.— Early  Jesuit  Mission  at  Sandusky— Father  Bonnecamp  on 

the  Ohio  —  Rev.  Mr.  Badin— Father  E. Fenwick—  The  Dittoes  — F.  Fenwick  made 

Bishop  of  Cincinnati— Dies  of  Cholera-Most  Rev.  J.  B.  Purcell,  second  bishop,  first 

t      archbishop. 

Diocese  of  Cleveland,  1°47.- Right  Rev.  A.  Rappe-Right  Rev.  R.  Gilmour. 

Diocese  of  Columbus,  IBCS.-Rlght  Rev.S.H.  Rosecrans 546 

Chap.  XXXIV.— State  of  Indiana. 
Diocese  of  Vlncennes,  ISai.— Early  history— Right  Rev.  S.  G.  Brute— Right  Rev.  C.  de  la 

Hailandiere-Right  Rev.  J.  S.  Bazin-Right  Rev.  J.  M.  M.  de  St.  Palais-Right  Rev. 

F.  S.  Chatard. 
Diocese  of  Fort  Wayne,  1857.— Right  Rev.  J.  H.  Luers— Right  Rev.  J.  Dwenger 559 


CONTENTS.  9 

Chap.  XXXV.— State  of  Illfnois. 

Diocese  of  Chicago,  1841.— Early  history— French  and  Indian  missions  under  Bishops 
of  Quebec— Marquette  and  Allouez— Quebec  priests— Rev.  Dominic  Vai  let  — Sale  of 
churches— In  Diocese  of  Baltimore— Under  Bishop  Flaget— Vlncenncs  and  St.  Louis 
—See  erccted-Iiisht  Kev.  W.  Quarter— Eight  IIcv.  J.  O.  Van  de  Velde— Right  Kev. 
A.  O'Eegan— Klglit  Kev.  J  Duggau- Right  Kev.  J.  Foley. 

Diocese  of  Quincy,  1853.— Diocese  of  Alton,  1857— Eight  Kev.  H.  D.  Junker— Eight  Kev. 
r.  J.  Baltes. 

Diocese  of  Peoria,  1877.— Itight  Rev.  J.  L.  Spalding 5CG 

CiiAP.  XXXVI. — State  of  Michigan. 
Diocese  of  Detroit,  1832.— Early  history— First  Cross  in  the  West— Sault  Ste.   :Marle, 

Mackinac,  Detroit— A  Recollect  sheds  his  blood— F.  Potier  the  last  Jesuit— Rev,  G. 

Richard— See  of  Baltimore— Bardstown— Cincinnati— See  of  Detroit— Right  Rev.  T. 

Eese— Right  Rev.  P.  P.  Le  Fevre— Right  Rev.  C.  H.  Borgess. 
Diocese  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie.— Right  Rev.  F.  Baraga— See  transferred  to  Marquette— 

Eight  Rev.  I.  Mrak 579 

Chap.  XXXVII.— State  of  Wisconsin. 
Diocese  of  Milwaukee,  1841.  —  Early  History  —  Father  Allouez— Kev.  S.  T.  Badln  — F. 

Mazzuchelli— Right  Rev.  J.  M.  Heuni— Seminary— Capuchins— Archbishop. 
Diocese  of  Green  Bay,  1868.— Early  History— Eight  Rev.  J.  Melcher— Eight  Eev.  F.  X. 

Krautbauer. 
Diocese  of  La  Crosse,  1868.— Prairie  du  Chlen— Eight  Kev.  J.  M.  Heiss 592 

Chap.  XXXVIII.— State  of  Mississippi. 

Diocese  of  Natchez,  1837.  — Early  history  — A  Capuchin  Mission— Massacre  — Under 

Spanish  rule- Precarious  ministry— Right  Rev.  J.  M.  J.  Chanche— Right  Rev.  J.  Van 

de  Velde— Right  Eev.  W.  II.  Elder— Yellow  fever  of  1878 601 

Chap.  XXXIX.— State  of  Louisiana. 

Early  religious  history— Under  bishops  of  Quebec— Divided  between  Carmelites,  Ca- 
puchins, and  Jesuits— Troubles— Colony  ceded— Suppression  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
—Churches  razed— Spanish  regime— Bishop  auxiliar— Bishopric  of  Louisiana  erected 
—Eight  Eev.  L.  Penalver— Right  Rev.  W.  Dubourg— Right  Rev.  Dr.  Eosati. 

Diocese  of  New  Orleans,  1824.- Eight  Eev.  L.  de  Neckere— Most  Kev.  A.  Blanc,  arch- 
bishop—Most  Eev.  J.  B.  Odin— Most  Rev.  J.  N.  Perche. 

Diocese  of  Natchitoches,  1853.— French  and  Spanish— Ven.  F.  Margll— Right  Eev.  A. 
Martin— Right  Rev.  F.  X.  Leray 608 

Chap.  XL.— State  of  Alabama. 

Diocese  of  Mobile,  1829.-French  and  Spanish  days— Right  Eev.  M.  Portler,  V.  A.,  1825 

—Bishop  of  Mobile,  1829-Eight  Eev.  J.  Quinlan 623 

Chap.  XLL— State  of  Missourl 

Diocese  of  St.  Louis,  1827.— Eight  Eev.  W.  Dubourg— Eight  Eev.  J.  Eosati— Eight  Eev. 

P.  R.  Kenrick,  coadjutor,  succeeds— Archbishop— Eight  Eev.  P.  J.  Eyan,  coadjutor. 

Diocese  of  St.  Joseph.— Eight  Rev.  J.  J.  Ilogan 627 

Chap.  XLIL— State  of  Arkansas. 
Diocese  of  Little  Rock,  1844.— Right  Rev.  A.  Byrne- Right  Rev.  E.  Fitzgerald 633 

Chap.  XLIII. — State  of  Iowa. 

Diocese  of  Dubuque.— Right  Eev.  M.  Loras— Eight  Eev.  C.  Smyth— Right  Rev.  J.  Hen- 

nessy ^3fl 


10  C03^TEI^TS. 

Chap.  XLIV,— State  of  MrtmESOTA. 
Diocese  of  St.  Paul,  1850.— Right  Rev.  J.  Cretin-Right  Rev.  T.  L.  Grace— Right  Rev. 
J.  Ireland,  coadjutor— Vicariate-Apostolic  of  Northern  Minnesota— Right  Rev.  R. 
Seidenbush 639 

Chap.  XLV. — State  of  Kansas. 
Vicariate-Apostolic  of  Indian  Territory.— Right  Rev,  J.  B.  Miege— Right  Rev.  L.  M. 
Fink— See  of  Leavenworth -Right  Rev.  L.  M.  Fink  645 

Chap.  XLVI.— State  of  Nebraska. 

Vicariate-Apostolic,  1851.— Right  Rev.  John  B.  Miege— Right  Rev.  J,  O'Gorman— Right 

Rev.  J.  O'Connor 649 

Chap.  XL VII.— Colorado, 

Vicariate-Apostolic,  1868.— Right  Rev.  J.  P.  Machebceuf 651 

Chap.  XLVIII.— Idaho. 

Vicariate-Apostolic— Right  Rev.  L.  Lootens 652 

Chap.  XLIX. — State  of  Oregon. 

Diocese  of  Oregon.— Vicariate,  1843— Most  Rev.  F.  N.  Blanchet,  1844,  Archbishop,  1846. 655 

Chap.  L. — Washington  Territory. 

Diocese  of  Wallawalla— Diocese  of  Nesqually.— Right  Rev.  A.  M,  A,  Blanchet 660 

Chap,  LI, — Indian  Territory, 
Prefecture-Apostolic— Right  Rev,  Dom  Isidore  Robot— Review 662 

Chap,  LIL— State  of  Florida, 
Diocese  of  St.  Augustine.— Early  history— Dominicans— Church  at  St.  Augustine— In- 
dian missions  — Jesuit  and  Franciscan  —  Episcopal  visitation  — Resident  bishop  — 
Country  ceded  to  England  -Catholicity  restored— Sold  to  the  United  States— Under 
Bishop  of  Louisiana— Vicar-Apostolic  of  Alabama— Bishop  of  Mobile— Right  Rev.  A. 
Verot,  V,  A,,  1857— Bishop  of  St.  Augustine,  1870— Right  Rev,  John  Moore,  1876. .  663 

Chap.  LIII.— State  of  Texas, 

Diocese  of  Galveston.— Early  Franciscan  missions— Labors  and  martyrdom— Prefec- 
ture-Apostolic, 1819-Vicariate-Apostolic  of  Texas,  1843-Right  Rev.  John  M.  Odin, 
Bishop  of  Galveston,  1847-186'— Right  Rev,  C.  M,  Dubois,  1862. 

Diocese  of  San  Antonio.— Right  Rev.  A.  D.  Pelliecr,  1874  — Vicariate-Apostolic  of 
Brownsville— Right  Rev.  D.  Manucy,  ;87i 671 

Chap.  LIV. — Territory  of  Neav  Mexico. 

Diocese  of  Santa  Fe.— Early  history— rrnnoiPcan   missions  —  Subject  to  Bishops  of 

Guadalajara  and  Durango— Right  Rev.  John  B.  Lamy  Vicar-A,  ostolic.  Bishop  of 

Sante  Fe,  Archbishop 680 

Chap.  LV, — Territory  of  Arizona, 
Vicariate-Apostolic  of  Arizona,  1869,— Early  history— Jesuits— Franciscans— Right  Rev. 
JohnB,  Salpointe 686 

Chap,  LVI, — California,  Nevada,  and  Utah,  | 

Diocese  of  Both  Calif ornias. -Early  missions— Right  Rev,  Francis  Garcia  Diego,  i 

Diocese  of  Monterey,  law.— Kiglit  Rev,  F,  S,  Alemany— Division  of  the  diocese— Right 

Rev.  Thaddeus  Amat— Right  Rev.  Francis  Mora. 
DIoce.se  of  San  Francisco,  1853.— Most  Rev.  F.  S.  Alemany. 
Vicariate-Apostolic  of  Maryville,  1861,— Right  Rev.  Eugene  O'C  nnell,  Bishop  of  Flavl- 

opolis— Bishop  of  Grass  Valley,  1868 689 

Conclusion 699 


THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE    EARLY    INDIAN    MISSIONS. 


Missions  of  the  Norwegians  in  the  ante-Cohirabian  times— Spanish  missions  in  Floridj^ 
New  Mexico,  Texas,  and  California— French  missions  among  the  Indians  in  Maine, 
New  York,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  missionary  spirit  is  inherent  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  it 
dates  from  the  moment  when  our  Lord  said  to  his  apostles,  "Go 
and  taach  all  nations."  Before  St.  Paul  had  left  Asia  Minor, 
missionaries  had  already  penetrated  to  Italy  and  Spain,  and  from 
their  day  to  our  own,  each  succeeding  age  has  produced  her 
heroes,  devoting  their  lives  to  the  greatest  of  human  enterprises 
— the  conversion  of  souls.  When  the  still  pagan  Nor  ihmen  dis- 
covered Iceland  in  the  eighth  century  of  our  present  era,  they 
found  on  the  shore  crosses,  bells,  and  sacred  vessels  of  Irish  work- 
manship. The  island  had  therefore  been  visited  by  Catholic 
missionaries,  and  the  Irish  clergy  may  with  justice  lay  claim  to 
the  discovery  of  the  New  World. 

The  Northmen,  after  founding  a  colony  in  Iceland,  pushed 
their  discovery  westward,  and  soon  discovered  a  part  of  the  west- 
ern continent,  to  which,  from  the  agreeable  verdure  with  which 
it  was  covered,  they  gave  the  name  of  Greenland.  When  these 
hardy  explorers  returned  to  Norway,  they  found  the  idols  of 


12  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Scandinavia  hurled  to  the  dust.  The  king  had  embraced  the 
true  faith,  and  the  whole  people  had  renounced  paganism.  A 
missionary  set  sail  in  the  first  vessel  that  steered  towards  the  new- 
found land,  and  ere  long  the  Httle  colony  was  Catholic.  Iceland 
and  Greenland  soon  had  their  churches,  their  convents,  their 
bishops,  their  colleges,  their  libraries,  their  apostolic  men.  The 
explorers  Beorn  and  Leif  having  coasted  southerly  along  the 
Atlantic  shore  towards  the  bays  where  the  countless  spires  of  Bos- 
ton and  New  York  now  tower,  missionaries  immediately  ofiered 
to  go  and  preach  the  gospel  to  the  savage  nations  of  the  South ; 
and  it  is  certain  that  in  1120  Bishop  Eric  visited  in  person  Vin- 
land,  or  the  land  of  vines.  The  colonies  of  the  Northmen  on  the 
west  coast  of  Greenland  continued  to  flourish  till  1406,  when 
the  seventeenth  and  last  Bishop  of  Garda  was  sent  from  Norway : 
those  on  the  eastern  coast  subsisted  till  1540,  when  they  were 
destroyed  by  a  physical  revolution  which  accumulated  the  ice  in 
that  zone  from  the  60th  degree  of  latitude.  Thus,  a  focus  of 
Christianity  not  only  long  existed  in  Greenland,  but  from  it  rays 
of  faith  momentarily  illumined  part  of  the  territory  now  em- 
braced in  the  United  States,  to  leave  it  sunk  in  darkness  for  some 
centuries  more. 

But  the  great  Columbus,  by  discovering  another  part  of 
America,  soon  drew  the  attention  of  Europe  to  the  New  World, 
and  the  navigators  of  Spain,  Portugal,  France,  and  England  ex- 
plored it  in  every  direction.  All  were  animated  by  the  same 
spirit,  and,  despite  national  jealousy,  actuated  by  the  same  motive. 
The  adventurer,  the  soldier,  and  the  priest  always  landed  together ; 
and  the  proclamation  made  to  the  natives  by  the  Spaniards  bears 
these  remarkable  words:  "  The  Church :  the  Queen  and  Sovereign 
of  the  World."  The  Protestant  citizens  of  the  United  States 
boast  of  the  Puritan  settlement  in  New  England  as  the  cradle 
of  their  race :  but  long  before  these  separatists  landed  at  Plymouth 
la.  1620,  and  while  the  English  settlers  hugged  the  Atlantic  shore, 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  13 

too  indifferent  to  instruct  in  Christianity  the  Indians  whose  hunt- 
ing grounds  they  had  usurped,  other  portions  of  the  continent, 
and  even  of  our  territory,  were  evangehzed  from  nortli  to  south 
and  from  east  to  west.  These  missions  are  divided  into  tliree 
very  distinct  chisses :  the  Dominicans,  Franciscans,  and  Jesuits  oi 
Spain  share  between  them  the  south  from  Florida  to  California  ; 
the  Recollects  and  Jesuits  of  France  traverse  the  country  in  every 
direction  from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific,  and  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  Hudson's  Bay ;  and 
finally,  the  English  Jesuits  plant  the  Cross  for  a  time  amid  the 
tiibes  of  Maryland,  during  the  short  period  of  Catholic  supremacy 
in  that  colony. 

The  Spaniards  were  the  first  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the  terri- 
tory DOW  actually  comprised  in  the  United  States.  Sebastian 
Cabot  had,  indeed,  under  the  flag  of  England,  explored  the  At- 
lantic shore  in  1497,  but  Ponce  de  Leon  was  the  first  to  land 
with  a  view  of  conquest.  From  1512,  the  date  of  the  discovery 
of  Florida,  numerous  expeditions  succeeded  one  another,  and  all 
were  attended  by  missionaries  ;  but  the  savage  inhabitants  offered 
their  invaders  a  more  effectual  resistance  than  the  natives  of  His- 
pnuiola  or  the  sovereigns  of  Mexico.  In  Florida  the  Spanirads 
met  disaster  after  disaster,  and  from  1512  to  1542,  Leon,  Cor- 
dova, Ay  lion,  Narvaez,  and  Soto,  successively,  with  most  of  their 
forces,  perished  in  Florida  or  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Of 
the  expedition  of  Narvaez,  Cabeza  de  Vaca  escaped  almost  alone, 
and  after  almost  incredible  hardship  and  danger,  pushed  through 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  thus  acquiring  the 
glory  of  having  first  traversed  North  America  from  east  to  west. 
He  was  hospitably  received  by  the  Spaniards  of  Mexico  at  their 
out|>osts  in  Sonora,  and  there  his  account  inflamed  the  zeal  of 
Friar  Mark,  of  Nice,  who  in  1539  resolved  to  bear  the  Cross  to 
the  inland  tribes.  His  religious  enterprise  failed,  but  his  attempt 
remfiins  as  the  hardiest  exploration  yet  attempted  of  unknown 


14  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

regions.     In  1542  another  expedition  left  Mexico,  commanded  Dy 

Corocado,  and  turned  towards  the  northeast.  After  reaching  tlie 
head-waters  of  the  Arkansas,  he  turned  back  to  the  Rio  Grande, 
in  the  present  diocese  of  Santa  Fe.  Here  the  commander  re- 
Bolved  to  return  to  Mexico,  but  such  was  not  the  idea  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan missionaries  in  his  party.  They  had  come  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  and  would  not  retreat  from  the  field  they  had  chosen. 
They  accordingly  allowed  their  companions  to  depart,  and  while 
Coronado  and  his  soldiers  resumed  the  route  to  Mexico,  Father 
Padilla  and  Brother  John  of  the  Cross  prostrated  themselves  to 
offer  humbly  to  God  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives  for  the  salvation  of 
the  Indians.  Their  offer  was  accepted,  and  while  on  their  way  to 
the  town  of  Quivira,  they  were  both  pierced  with  arrows,  \dctims 
of  their  charitable  devotedness.  Such  are  the  first  martyrs  of  the 
Church  in  the  United  States,  and  their  death  is  only  fifty  years 
subsequent  to  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  by  Columbus. 

After  an  interval  of  forty  years,  the  Franciscans  penetrated  into 
New  Mexico,  which  now  forms  the  diocese  of  Santa  Fe.  Many 
sank  beneath  the  Indian  torture,  but  their  places  were  filled  up  by 
new  missionaries,  and  their  labors  resulted  in  the  conversion  of 
whole  tribes.  Before  the  English  had  formed  a  single  settlement, 
either  in  Virginia  or  New  England,  all  the  tribes  on  the  Rio 
Grande  were  converted  and  civilized ;  their  towns,  still  remarkable 
for  their  peculiar  structure,  were  decorated  with  churches  and 
public  edifices,  which  superficial  travellers  in  our  day  ascribe  to 
the  everlasting  Aztecs.  In  the  next  century  the  incursions  of  the 
fierce  nations  of  the  plains,  the  wild  Apache  and  the  daring  Na 
vajo,  destroyed  most  of  these  towns :  the  weakness  of  the  Spanish 
government  allowed  the  ruins  to  extend ;  but  the  inhabitants  are 
still  Catholic,  and  are  now  the  object  of  a  spiritual  regeneration. 
New  Mexico  having  been  conquered  by  the  United  States  in 
1845,  the  Holy  See  was  enabled  to  exercise  jurisdiction  without 
wnbarrassment ;  and  a  bishop — the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Lamy,  a  French- 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  Ic 

man  by  Lirtli — aided  by  several  clergymen  of  his  own  land,  gov- 
erns the  diocese  of  Santa  Fe,  where  he  has  already  revived  the 
faith,  restored  discipline,  and  repaired  many  of  the  devastations 
of  years. 

While  the  children  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  were  thus  in  the 
sixteenth  century  carrying  on  the  spiritual  conquest  of  New  Mex- 
ico, the  Dominicans  pursued  their  missions  in  Florida,  though  not 
without  constant  persecution.  They  first  call  to  their  aid  the 
Jesuits,  then  yield  the  field  to  the  Franciscans,  and  these  three 
religious  orders  bedew  with  their  purest  blood  the  country  now 
embraced  in  the  dioceses  of  Savannah  and  Mobile.  At  last  the 
ardent  zeal  of  several  generations  of  martyrs  receives  its  recom- 
pense, and  the  natives  of  Florida  embraced  Christianity.  Villages 
of  neophytes  gathered  around  the  Spanish  posts.  Devotional 
works  were  translated  and  pi'iuted  in  the  Mobilian  dialects,  and 
the  Doctrina  Cristiana  of  Pareja,  in  Timuquana,  is  the  oldest 
published  work  in  any  dialect  of  the  natives  of  the  United  States. 
The  convent  of  St.  Helena,  in  the  city  of  St.  Augustine,  became 
the  centre  whence  the  Franciscans  spread  in  every  direction,  even 
to  the  extremities  of  the  peninsula  and  among  the  Appalachian 
clans.  The  faith  prospered  among  these  tribes,  and  the  cross 
towered  in  every  Indian  village,  till  the  increasing  English  colony 
of  Carolina  brought  w^ar  into  these  peaceful  realms.  In  1*703  the 
valley  of  the  Appalachicola  was  ravaged  by  an  armed  body  of  cov- 
etous fanatics ;  the  Indian  towns  were  destroyed ;  the  missiona- 
ries slaughtered,  and  their  forest  children,  their  neophytes,  sharing 
their  fate,  or,  still  more  unfortunate,  being  hurried  away  and  sold 
as  slaves  in  the  English  West  Indies.  Fifty  years  after,  the  whole 
colony  of  Florida  fell  into  the  hands  of  England :  the  missions 
were  destroyed,  the  Indians  dispersed,  and  St.  Helena,  the  con- 
vent whence  Christianity  had  radiated  over  the  peninsula,  became 
a  barrack,  and  such  is  that  venerable  monastery  in  our  oAvn  days. 
Driven  from  their  villages  and  fields,  which  the  English  seized, 


16  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

tlie  unhappy  Floridians  were  forced  to  wander  in  the  wilderness 
and  resume  the  nomadic  hfe  of  barbarism,  from  which  Christi- 
anity had  reclaimed  them.  Buried  in  their  pathless  everglades, 
without  spiritual  guides,  they  took  the  name  of  Seminoles,  which 
in  their  own  language  means  Wanderers,  and  have  gradually  lost 
the  foith,  and  have  become  the  scourge  of  the  whites.  In  vain 
have  the  English  and  our  government  since,  by  long  and  expen- 
sive wars,  endeavored  to  expel  them.  Under  Jackson's  policy, 
the  government  attempted  to  deport  them  beyond  the  Mississippi, 
as  well  as  most  of  the  other  tribes  ;  but  the  Seminoles,  so  gentle 
under  the  paternal  care  of  the  Franciscans,  had  become  ungovern- 
able when  their  uncultivated  nature  was  no  longer  under  the 
check  of  religion.  The  Florida  war,  which  cost  the  United  States 
twenty  thousand  men  and  forty  niillion  dollars,  and  lasted  from 
1835  to  1842,  produced  no  result.  The  Seminoles  do  not  num- 
ber over  a  thousand,  yet  diplomacy  and  force,  promises  and 
threats,  alike  fail  to  draw  them  from  their  native  land.  Their  chief- 
tain, Billy  Bowlegs,  is  the  terror  of  the  frontier,  and  the  Ameri- 
can people  held  in  check  by  a  handful  of  Indians  will  thus  long 
atone  for  the  iniquity  of  their  fathers.  But  the  restoration  of  the 
Catholic  missions,  which  began  with  the  peace  of  Europe  in  1814, 
and  to  the  success  of  which  the  Association  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Faith  has  so  powerfully  contributed,  has  been  felt  in  Florida 
as  in  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  first  bishop  of  Mobile  was  a 
native  of  France,  and  the  mission  of  St.  Augustine  took  new 
life  under  the  Fathers  of  Mercy,  of  whom  Father  Rauzan  was 
the  venerable  founder, 

California,  which  now  forms  the  ecclesiastical  province  of  San 
Francisco,  was  also  evangelized  in  the  time  of  the  Spaniards  :  the 
flourishing  missions  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  peninsula  of  California 
do  not,  however,  fall  within  our  limits,  as  they  existed  on  a  terri- 
tory still  subject  to  Mexico. 

Upper  California,  conquered  by  the  United  States  in  1845,  was 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  17 

risited  by  the  Franciscans  in  1*708  ;  and  from  that  dftte  do^vn  to 
1822  they  founded  along  the  coast  twenty-one  missions,  the  chief 
of  which  were  San  Diego,  Monterey,  and  San  Francisco.  In 
these  missions  the  Fathers  directed  seventy-five  thousand  con- 
certed Indians,  providing  for  their  clothing,  food,  and  instruction. 
But  in  1825,  in  consequence  of  the  revolution  by  which  Mexico 
was  severed  from  the  mother  country,  the  Spanish  missionaries 
were  driven  from  California,  and  the  Catholic  Indians  were  de- 
prived of  most  of  their  pastors. 

The  same  result  took  place  in  Texas,  where  the  Franciscans 
announced  the  Gospel  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
where  their  noble  foundations,  the  missions  of  San  Antonio,  San 
Francisco,  and  a  host  of  others,  among  the  Adayes,  the  Cenis,  the 
Tejas,  the  Aes,  after  having  been  levelled  by  wars  and  revolutions, 
and  watered  with  the  blood  of  martyrs  down  to  the  present  cen- 
tury, have  begun  to  revive  since  the  erection  of  Texas  into  a  Vica- 
riate Apostolic  in  1842,  and  the  subsequent  establishment  of  the 
Episcopal  See  of  Galveston,  over  which  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Odin 
presided. 

Such  is  a  rapid  sketch  of  the  former  missions  in  the  countries 
subject  to  the  Spanish  crown.  The  southern  part  of  the  United 
States  was  the  theatre  of  these  holy  attempts ;  and  we  must  now 
pass  to  the  North  to  describe  those  to  which  the  Jesuits  and 
Recollects  of  France  devoted  their  lives  with  such  heroic  zeal. 
Canada  had  been  known  since  the  reign  of  Francis  I.,  and  at- 
tempts at  colonization  had  been  made  under  Henry  HI. ;  but  it 
was  only  under  Henry  IV.  that  permanent  settlements  were 
formed  in  North  America,  at  Quebec  and  Port  Royal.  Then  tlie 
ladies  of  the  Court,  encouraged  by  Father  Coton,  became  mer- 
chants and  ship-owners  in  order  to  enable  the  missionaries  se- 
lected to  reach  those  distant  shores.  The  Marchioness  de 
Guerche\^lle,  who  had  declared  herself  protectress  of  the  Indiana 
Df  New  France,  devoted  her  fortune  to  the  work  of  colonization ; 


IS  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

and  two  Jesuits,  after  a  short  stay  in  Acadia,  whence  they  were 
driven  by  persecution,  founded  in  1612  the  Mission  of  St.  Saviour, 
on  Mount  Desert  Island,  off  the  coast  of  Maine,  and  in  the  present 
diocese  of  Portland.  Thus  at  the  North,  no  less  than  at  the 
South,  Catholicity  had  taken  possession  of  the  American  soil  be- 
fore the  Puritans  had  given  Protestantism  a  home  at  Boston. 
England  then  possessed  only  a  few  scattered  houses  in  Viiginia, 
whose  inmates  sent  a  fleet  of  fishing  craft  each  year  to  Newfound- 
land. As  this  fleet,  escorted  by  the  infamous  Argal,  approached 
St.  Saviour's  and  heai-d  of  its  existence,  they  resolved  to  attack 
the  settlement.  One  of  the  missionaries  was  mortally  wounded 
by  the  invaders,  his  companions  carried  off  as  prisoners,  and  the 
seeds  of  the  faith  which  Father  Biard  had  planted  in  the  hearts 
of  the  Indians  were  to  germ  only  in  happier  times. 

This  harvest  waited  till  1646.  At  that  time  a  converted  Al- 
gonquin from  Canada  having  visited  the  Abenakis,  a  tribe  occu- 
pying the  present  State  of  Maine,  these  latter  suddenly  found 
themselves  touched  by  grace,  and  a  deputation  of  their  principal 
chiefs  set  out  for  Quebec  to  beg  most  earnestly  for  a  Blackgown. 
Father  Druillettes  was  sent  to  them,  and  his  labors,  followed  by 
those  of  the  two  Bigots,  La  Chasse,  Loyaixl,  Sirenne,  and  Aubry, 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  Thury  and  Gaulin,  of  the  Seminaiy 
of  Quebec,  eftected  the  conversion  of  the  powerful  tribe  of  the 
Abenakis,  or  Taranteens,  as  the  early  English  settlers  called  them. 
The  mission  long  maintained  its  zeal  and  fervor,  and  the  Indians 
on  all  occasions  acted  as  brave  and  faithful  allies  of  France.  But 
when  Acadia  was  lost,  the  English  in  Massachusetts  pursued  with 
cruel  vengeance  the  red  man's  attachment  to  Catholicity  and 
Fi-ance.  Expedition  after  expedition  spread  fire  and  death  through 
the  villages  of  the  Abenakis ;  the  missionaries  were  driven  out  or 
Blain,  the  churches  destroyed,  and  the  Indians  deprived  of  all  the 
consolations  of  the  faith.  Yet  they  had  been  too  well  grounded 
in  Catholicity  to  weaver :  they  remained  true  to  the  faith,  and 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  19 

joining  the  Americans  in  their  revohition,  immediately  petitioned 
for  a  French  priest.  Down  to  our  day  they  have  resisted  tlie 
preachers  of  Protestantism,  and  the  remnants  of  this  powerful 
tribe,  who  still  occupy  five  villages  in  Canada  and  Maine,  are  all 
Catholics,  as  their  forefathers  have  been  for  two  centuries. 

After  Maine,  the  country  now  embraced  in  the  State  of  New 
York  was  first  visited  by  our  missionaries.  This  territory  was  in- 
habited by  the  celebrated  confederation  of  the  Five  Nations  or 
Iroquois,  who  waged  a  perpetual  war  with  the  Hurons  of  Canada. 
The  Hurons,  many  of  whom  had  embraced  the  true  faith,  beheld 
the  inveterate  hatred  of  their  enemies  redoubled;  and  after  a 
struggle  of  twenty-five  years,  from  1625  to  1650,  after  cutting  ofl[ 
nine  Jesuits,  the  Iroquois  could  boast  of  having  destroyed  the 
Hurons.  Father  Jogues,  taken  captive  by  the  Mohawks  and  led 
to  their  castles,  was  the  first  missionary  who  bore  the  Gospel  to 
the  State  of  New  York,  then  a  Dutch  colony.  After  remaining 
a  prisoner  for  fifteen  months,  subjected  to  the  most  cruel  torture. 
Father  Jogues  was  delivered  by  the  Dutch,  and  sent  home  to 
France.  But  the  mutilated  hero  at  once  asked  to  be  sent  back  to 
his  Indians,  and  had  no  sooner  entered  their  castles,  in  1646,  than 
he  was  cut  down  by  a  tomahawk.  Such  a  fate  could  not,  how- 
ever, dismay  the  associates  of  Jogues,  and  soon  after.  Father  Le 
Moine,  in  his  turn,  braved  the  cruelty  of  the  Five  Nations,  After 
many  vicissitudes,  after  trials  of  every  kind,  the  Jesuits  at  last 
touched  the  breast  of  the  Iroquois,  and  founded  a  church  glorious 
in  the  annals  of  Christianity, — a  church  with  its  apostles,  its  mar- 
tyrs, its  holy  virgins,— a  church  which  even  in  our  day  has  been 
the  instrument  of  converting  the  distant  tribes  of  Oregon.  All 
these  wonders  were  achieved  in  the  short  period  of  eighteen  yeais, 
for  after  that  the  English  succeeded  in  exciting  the  pagan  Indians 
against  the  missionaries,  whom  they  expelled  from  the  cantons  of 
the  Iroquois.  Fortunately,  however,  the  Catholic  Indians  had 
already  begun  to  emigrate  to  the  Catholic  colony  of  Canada 


20  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

The  mission  at  Caugliuawaga,  on  the  Mohawk,  had  been  the 
most  flourishing  of  all ;  and  this  was  not  sm-prising  :  it  occupied 
the  spot  which  had  been  bedewed  with  the  blood  of  Father  Joguea 
and  his  companions,  Goupil  and  Lalande.  Harassed  in  the 
practice  of  their  rehgion,  the  Catholics  of  Caughna^vaga,  led  by 
their  great  chieftain,  resolved  to  emigrate  to  Canada,  and  these 
pilgrims  for  the  faith  founded  near  Montreal  a  new  Caughnawaga, 
which  still  exists.  The  once  pow^erful  league  of  the  Iroquois  has 
disappeared  from  the  territory  of  New  York.  Protestant  civiliza- 
tion destroyed  or  expelled  them,  to  seize  their  forests  and  hunting 
grounds.  But  the  descendants  of  the  pilgrims  of  1672  have  pre- 
served in  Canada  their  nationality  and  their  faith,  under  the  pro- 
tecting shadow  of  the  Cross.  Three  Iroquois  villages  exist  in  that 
colony,  one  containing  about  two  thousand  souls,  and  furnish 
striking  proof  of  the  solicitude  of  the  Church  for  the  salvation  of 
the  human  race. 

Other  parts  in  the  interior  of  the  United  States,  west  of  the 
English  colonies,  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  ^verc  in  like  man- 
ner visited  by  missionaries  from  France,  and  the  first  nucleus  of  a 
settlement  in  many  States,  as  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan, 
Wisconsin,  gathered  around  the  humble  chapel  of  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sionary. 

Protestant  writers  have  done  justice  to  the  wonderful  fecundity 
of  a  religion  which  covered  a  whole  continent  with  its  missiona- 
ries ;  and  Bancroft,  after  giving  a  magnificent  picture  of  the  labors 
of  the  Jesuits,  whose  early  exploration  of  the  wilderness,  even  in 
a  scientific  and  commercial  view,  must  win  the  admiration  of  all, 
adds :  "  Thus  did  tlie  religious  zeal  of  the  French  bear  the  Cr<:>ss 
to  the  banks  of  the  St.  Mary  and  the  confines  of  Lake  Superior, 
and  look  wistfully  towards  the  homes  of  the  Sioux  in  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  five  years  before  the  New  England  Eliot  had 
addressed  the  tribe  of  Indians  that  dw^elt  within  six  miles  oi 
Boston  harbor." 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  21 

Eliot  was  a  Protestant  minister,  almost  the  only  one  who  le- 
roted  himself  to  evangelize  the  Indians  of  New  England,  and  from 
the  lips  of  the  American  author,  this  contrast  between  the  wide- 
B2:)read  missions  of  the  Jesuits  in  1640,  and  the  labors  of  Eliot 
near  Boston,  is  a  striking  homage  to  Cathohcity.  In  1661  Father 
Menard  projected  a  mission  among  the  Sioux,  west  of  Lake  Su- 
perior, but  perished  amid  the  forests  in  what  is  now  the  Vicariate 
Apostolic  of  Upper  Michigan.  Father  Allouez  soon  took  up  the 
labors  of  Menard,  and  all  the  country  around  the  great  lakes, 
Huron,  Michigan,  and  Superior,  echoed  to  the  preaching  of  the 
Jesuits.  Sault  St.  Mary's,  Mackinaw,  and  Green  Bay  were  the 
centres  of  these  missions,  which  still  subsist,  and  the  traveller  who 
stops  at  one  of  the  rising  towns  of  the  northern  Mississippi,  will 
hear  the  priest  address  his  congregation  alternately  in  French, 
English,  and  some  Indian  dialect. 

Scarcely  were  the  Jesuits  thus  established  in  the  country  of  the 
great  lakes,  when  they  resolved  to  evangelize  the  whole  valley  oi 
the  Mississippi.  Father  Marquette  planted  the  Cross  amid  the 
Illinois,  after  having  had  in  1673  the  glory  of  discovering  and 
fexploring  the  Mississippi.  For  two  months  he  sailed  down  the 
river  in  his  bark  canoe,  and  the  narrative  of  his  extraordinary 
voyage,  revealing  to  the  world  the  fact  that  the  St.  Lawrence 
could  communicate  with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  by  an  almost  unin- 
terrupted chain  of  lakes,  rivers,  and  streams,  gave  France  the  first 
idea  of  colonizing  Louisiana.  The  Mississippi  valley  soon  beheld 
missions  rise  among  the  IlHnois,  Miamis,  Yazoos,  Arkansas,  Nat- 
chez, and  other .  tribes.  Jesuits,  Recollects,  and  Priests  of  the 
Foreign  Missions,  here  shared  the  rude  toil  of  converting  the  In- 
dians, and  the  French  missions  of  North  America  thus  mingle 
and  blend  with  those  of  the  Spaniards  at  the  South.  But  after  a 
century  of  preaching,  all  these  laborious  toils  are  compromised  by 
the  loss  of  Canada  and  the  suppression  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 
Many  flocks  were  then  deprived  of  pastors.     Not  only  the  Indian 


22  THE    CATHOLIC    OHUKCH 

converts,  but  even  the  French  settlers  were  left  destitute  of  priests, 
abandoned  to  the  seductions  of  error  or  the  ravages  of  indiffer- 
ence, till  at  last  Providence  used  the  dispersion  of  the  French 
clergy,  in  the  Reign  of  Terror,  to  send  to  America  missionaries, 
and  build  up  anew  the  church  whose  consoling  progress  we  have 
undertaken  to  recount. 

Having  thus  glanced  at  the  early  Spanish  and  French  missions, 
we  have  now  to  chronicle  the  labors  of  the  English  Jesuits  ii 
Maryland.* 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE    COLONIAL    CHURCH. 
Maryland— Settled  by  Catholics — Their  persecution— Their  emancipation — 1634-17T4 

We  have  briefly  sketched  the  early  evangelical  labors  of  the 
Spanish  and  French  missionaries  on  the  domain  which  now  con- 
stitutes the  United  States.  A  third  nation  came  in  its  turn  to 
contribute  by  its  holy  souls  to  the  Apostolates  of  the  American 
continent,  and  the  Jesuits  of  England  share  in  the  settlement  oi 
Maryland.  The  first  English  colonies  in  America  each  introduced 
a  new  creed.  In  160*7  Captain  John  Smith  and  some  Episcopa- 
lians founded  Virginia ;  in  1620  the  Separatists  landed  at  Ply- 
mouth, and  laid  the  foundations  of  New  England;  in  1684  the 
Quakers,  under  the  patronage  of  William  Penn,  took  possession 
of  Pennsylvania ;  Avhile  in  1634  the  Cathohcs  laid  the  corner-stone 


*  Much  of  the  preceding  was  drawn  from  a  lecture  of  Mr.  John  G.  Shea 
delivered  in  1852,  before  the  Catliolic  Institute  of  New  York,  the  basis  of  his 
well  known  and  elaborate  History  of  the  Catholic  Missions  among  the  Indian 
tribeb  of  the  United  States. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  L>3 

of  llie  present  State  of  Maryland,  wliich  received  its  nam%,  from 
Heuriette  Marie,  the  unfortunate  queen,  daughter  of  Ilenri  Quatre 
and  wife  of  Charles  I.*  But  that  land  had  been  already  bedewed 
with  martyr  blood,  as  though  Providence  had  ordained  that  it 
should  be  stamped  with  the  seal  of  the  true  faith  before  any 
Protestant  sect  had  transplanted  its  errors  there.  As  early  as 
1570  the  Jesuits,  who  were  Laboring  on  the  missions  in  Florida, 
turned  their  attention  to  a  country  far  to  the  north  of  thein,  at 
the  37th  degree  of  north  latitude,  and  known  to  the  natives  by 
the  name  of  Axacan.  The  Spanish  navigators  who  had  first  ex- 
plored the  coast,  had  brought  away  the  son  of  a  cacique,  who  was 
adopted  by  the  missionaries  as  a  future  means  of  enabling  the 
Gospel  to  penetrate  to  his  tribe. 

The  young  Indian,  gifted  with  rare  talents,  soon  seemed  to 
embrace  the  truths  of  the  faith  with  ardor,  and  ere  long,  baptized 
under  the  name  of  Don  Luis  de  Velascos,  Lord  of  Vasallos,  he 
offered  to  lead  the  Jesuits  to  the  kingdom  of  Axacan.  How 
could  the  missionaries  resist  the  hope  of  converting  a  savage  peo- 
ple to  the  faith  ? 

Accordingly  the  offer  of  the  young  cacique  was  cheerfully  ac- 
cepted, and  eight  Jesuits,  under  the  direction  of  Father  Segura, 
Vice-pro\dncial  of  Florida,  embarked  in  a  small  craft,  which 
landed  them  on  the  shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  then  known  to 
the  Spaniards  by  the  name  of  St.  Mary's.  This  bay  now  bathes 
the  shores  of  the  States  of  Maiyland  and  Virginia,  and  by  a  sin- 
gular coincidence,  the  names  of  Vii'gin  and  Mary,  given  in  mem- 
ory of  two  queens,  will  ever  be  a  memorial  of  its  earlier  consecra- 
tion to  Mary,  the  Mother  of  G-od. 

The  missionaries  landed,  accompanied  by  some  Indian  boys, 
who  had  been  educated  in  their  school  in  Havana.     They  pene- 

*  Philarete  Chasles,  ui  his  "  Essay  on  the  Anglo-Americans,"  says  tliat 
Maryland  was  so  called  in  honor  of  Mary  Tudor.  This  is  an  error:  C^ueen 
Mary  had  been  dead  sixty-six  years  before  the  grant  to  Lord  Baltimore. 


24  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

trated  into  the  interior,  guided  by  Vasallos,  and  after  a  painful 
Qiarch  of  several  months,  they  approached  the  realm  of  Axacan, 
At  last  their  guide  started  on,  in  order,  as  he  said,  to  prepare  his 
tribe  to  receive  the  missionaries.  But  after  forsaking  the  Jesuits 
amid  the  trackless  forests,  M'here  they  endured  all  the  horror«  of 
famme,  the  traitor  returned  at  the  head  of  a  party  of  armed  men, 
and  butchered  his  benefactors  at  the  foot  of  a  rustic  altar,  where 
they  had  daily  offered  the  holy  sacrifice  for  the  salvation  of  his 
tribe.  The  blood  of  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  Christians,  and  such 
is  the  first  triumph  of  the  faith  on  the  banks  of  the  Chesapeake.* 

After  Father  Segura,  Father  White  is  the  first  who  came  to 
labor  for  the  conversion  of  these  native  tribes.  Sir  George  Cal- 
vert was  in  1624  a  member  of  the  privy  council  of  James  I., 
when  the  sight  of  the  persecutions  employed  against  the  Catho- 
lics touched  the  loyal  and  religious  heart  of  the  English  lord.  He 
abjured  Anglicanism,  and,  informing  his  sovereign  of  the  step,  re- 
signed all  his  posts.  James  resolved  to  retain  the  services  of  so 
conscientious  a  man.  He  made  him  a  peer  of  L-eland,  with  the 
title  of  Lord  Baltimore,  and  granted  him  a  considerable  portion 
of  Newfoundland,  which  he  encouraged  him  to  settle.  Calvert 
devoted  a  part  of  his  fortune  to  fruitless  attempts  on  that  island. 
He  then  directed  his  attention  to  Virginia,  where  a  more  genial 
climate  gave  him  hopes  of  a  prosperous  settlement. 

But  sailing  there,  he  was  called  upon  to  take  the  test  oath  of 
the  supremacy  of  the  king  in  matters  of  faith,  and  he  left  the 
country  rather  than  betray  his  conscience.  Then  it  was  that  Lord 
Baltimore  solicited  a  charter  which  would  permit  the  Catholics 
to  practise  their  worship  undisturbed  in  one  spot  on  the  shores  of 
America.  His  request  was  granted,  and  Maryland  was  ceded  to 
him,  subject  only  to  the  yearly  homage  of  two  Indian  arrow?  and 
the  payment  into  the  royal  exchequer  of  one  fifth  of  the  gold 

*  Shea's  Lecture. 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  25 

and  eilv^er  drawn  from  the  mines.  Lord  Baltimore  died  in  1032, 
at  the  very  moment  when  this  charter  was  issuing.  Ilis  eldest 
son,  Cecil  Calvert,  inherited  his  rights,  but  he  had  not  the  energy 
to  direct  the  expedition  in  person,  and  to  Leonard  Calvert,  second 
8?ii  of  Lord  George,  is  due  the  honor  of  having  founded  Maryland. 

On  the  25th  of  March,  1634,  two  hundred  P^nglish  families, 
chiefly  Catholic,  flying  from  the  persecution  of  the  mother  coun- 
try, entered  the  Potomac  in  two  little  vessels,  the  Ark  and  Dove. 
It  ^vas  Lady-day,  and  the  settlers  wished  to  celebrate  it  duly  by 
hearing  Mass.  They  accordingly  landed,  and  Father  WJiite,  in 
his  relation  of  the  voyage,  thus  gives  an  account  of  the  ceremony:* 

"  On  the  day  of  the  Annunciation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
we  offered  for  the  first  time  in  this  region  of  the  world  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  Mass.  The  sacrifice  being  ended,  we  took  on  our 
shoulders  a  huge  cross  which  we  had  hewn  from  a  tree,  and  car- 
ried it  in  procession  to  a  place  marked  out  for  it,  the  governor, 
commissioners,  and  other  Catholics  bearing  a  part  in  the  cere- 
mony. We  raised  it  a  trophy  to  Christ  the  Saviour,  humbly 
chanting  on  bended  knees  and  with  deep  emotion  the  Litany  of 
the  Cross." 

Father  White  was  born  at  London  about  1579,  and  received 
his  education  in  the  College  of  Douay,  founded  in  1568  by  the 
celebrated  Cardinal  Allen  in  order  to  train  up  priests  for  the  Eng- 
lish mission.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  received  orders,  and 
was  immediately  sent  to  London  to  exercise  the  ministry  there  in 
secrecy,  as  the  penal  laws  then  required.  He  could  not,  however, 
escape  the  keen  search  of  the  pursuivants.  In  1602  we  find  him 
included  with  forty-six  other  priests  in  a  sentence  of  perpetual 
banishment.  Forced  thus  to  return  to  the  continent.  Father 
\Miite  resolved  to  enter  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  after  making  a 

*  "Eelatio  Itineris,"  by  Father  Andrew  "White,  copied  at  Eome  by  Father 
M'Sherry,  S.  J.,  and  publislied  in  Force's  Tracts,  and  in  part  in  Bumap's 
Lite  of  Calvert,  p.  58 

2 


26  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

novitiate  of  two  years  at  Louvain,  obtained  permission  to  return 
to  England.  Amid  the  moat  heroic  labors  of  that  illustrious  or- 
der, we  may  cite  the  unwearied  devotion  of  the  English  Jesuits  in 
favor  of  their  persecuted  countrymen.  For  two  centuries  they 
devoted  themselves  to  the  perilous  labors  of  the  holy  ministry  in 
England,  bra\'ing  chains  and  death ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  by 
opening  colleges  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  they  baffled  the 
rigors  of  Protestant  legislation,  which  had  pitilessly  closed  ev^ery 
source  of  Catholic  education  in  the  three  kingdoms. 

The  English  Jesuits  had  in  1590  obtained  of  the  liberality  of 
Philip  11.  of  Spain  the  foundation  of  a  college  at  St.  Omer's,  and 
some  years  later  they  opened  the  college  of  Liege  in  the  domains 
of  the  Elector  of  Bavaria.  At  the  same  time,  they  established  in 
Spain  for  English  postulants  the  Novitiate  of  Valladolid  and  the 
Scholasticate  of  St.  Ermenegild  near  Seville.  To  this  latter  house 
Father  AVhite  was  sent,  after  having  s})ent  ten  years  on  the  Lon- 
don mission.  The  quiet  duties  of  a  professor's  chair  did  not, 
however,  satisfy  his  ardent  zeal,  and  he  soon  obtained  permission 
to  return  for  the  third  time  to  England.  Lord  Baltimore  no 
sooner  knew  him  than  he  determined,  if  possible,  to  intrust  him 
with  the  spiritual  care  of  his  Maryland  settlers.  The  Society  of 
Jesus  eagerly  seconded  the  pious  views  of  the  English  nobleman ; 
nor,  indeed,  could  it  refuse  to  concur  in  a  work  which  promised 
such  an  extension  to  the  bounds  of  the  Church.  To  Father 
White  were  associated  Father  John  Altham,  known  on  the  mis- 
sion by  the  name  of  Grovener,*  and  two  lay  brothers.  Scarcely 
had  they  landed  on  the  shores  of  the  Potomac  when  the  com- 

*  Cretineau  Joly,  in  his  Histoire  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus,  STipposes  a 
Father  Altham  and  a  Father  Grovener  (iii.  350),  bat  from  an  article  of  the 
late  B.  U.  Campbell,  Esq.,  in  the  Catholic  Almanac  for  1841,  it  is  clear  that 
under  the  two  names  we  must  reckon  only  one  Jesuit.  The  missionaries  of 
that  time,  in  order  to  elude  the  persecution  of  Anglicans,  often  took  succes- 
Bively  several  names  as  scA'eral  disguises.  This  was  necessary  to  preserve 
to  the  Catholics  of  England  the  services  of  their  Fathers  and  pastors. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  27 

panions  of  Leonard  Calvert  founded  the  little  town  of  St.  Mary's ; 
and  the  largest  cabin  of  an  Indian  tribe,  ceded  to  the  missiona- 
ries, became  the  first  chapel  of  Maryland. 

The  Fathers  at  once  divided  their  time  between  the  European 
colonists  and  the  Indian  tiibes  whose  eyes  they  had  vowed  to 
open  to  the  light  of  the  Gospel.  The  former  constituted  a  con- 
gregation remarkable  for  their  piety  and  morality,  so  that  many  of 
the  Protestants  who  landed  in  1634  and  1638  became  Catholics. 
"The  Relation"  of  1638,  addressed  to  the  General  at  Rome,  con- 
tains these  words : 

"  The  religious  exercises  are  followed  with  exactness,  and  the 
sacraments  are  well  frequented.  By  the  spiiitual  exercises  we  have 
formed  the  principal  inhabitants  to  the  practice  of  piety,  and  they 
have  derived  signal  benefits  from  them.  The  sick  and  dying,  whose 
number  has  been  considerable  this  year,  have  all  been  attended,  in 
spite  of  the  great  distance  of  their  dwellings,  so  that  not  a  Catholic 
died  without  having  received  the  benefit  of  the  sacraments." 

On  his  side  Father  White,  notwithstanding  his  advanced  age 
(he  was  then  fifty-five),  took  upon  him  the  hard  task  of  learning 
the  language  of  the  Indians.  From  the  first  the  welcome  of  the 
natives  had  been  cordial.  In  his  intercourse  with  them  Leonard 
Calvert  had  always  shown  the  greatest  loyalty,  and  the  Maryland 
historian*  says  on  this  subject : 

"  During  the  remainder  of  the  year,  while  the  English  and  In- 
dians lived  together  in  St.  Mary's,  according  to  their  stipulation, 
the  utmost  harmony  appears  to  have  prevailed  among  them.  The 
natives  went  every  day  to  hunt  with  the  '  new-comers'  for  deer 
and  turkeys,  which,  when  they  had  caught,  being  more  expert  at 
it,  they  either  gave  to  the  English  or  sold  for  knives,  beads,  and 
Buch  trifles.  They  also  supplied  them  with  fish  in  plenty.  As  a 
certain  mark  of  the  entire  confidence  which  these  unsuspecting 


28  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

people  placed  in  the  colonists,  tlieir  women  and  children  became, 
in  some  measure,  domesticated  in  the  English  families." 

The  gentle  and  even  innocent  life  of  the  Indians  disposed  them 
favorably  to  receive  the  Gospel.  Father  White  accordingly,  on 
liis  first  visit  to  the  Patuxents,  made  some  converts.  In  1639 
Father  Brock,  just  arrived  fi'om  England,  resided  amidst  them  on 
a  strip  of  land  given  him  by  King  Mackaquomen,  and  Father 
Altham  was  stationed  on  Kent  Island.  In  the  ardor  of  his  char- 
ity, Father  Brock,  in  1641,  wrote: 

"  For  my  own  part,  I  would  rather,  laboring  in  the  conversion 
of  these  Indians,  expire  on  the  bare  ground,  deprived  of  all  hu- 
man succor,  and  perishing  with  hunger,  than  once  think  of  aban- 
doning this  holy  work  of  God  from  the  fear  of  want." 

These  noble  words  were  his  testament,  and  a  few  weeks  later 
Fatlier  Brock  breathed  his  last,  exhausted  by  hardship  and  priva- 
tions. 

Father  White  had  in  1639  taken  up  his  station  among  the 
Piscataways,  who  resided  near  the  present  city  of  Washington ; 
and  ere  long  he  had  the  consolation  of  baptizing  King  Chiloma- 
con,  his  family,  and  a  part  of  his  tribe.  The  young  queen  of  the 
Potopacos,  and  the  chief  men  of  the  tribe,  followed  this  example, 
so  that  the  neophytes  numbered  one  hundred  and  thirty.  The 
settlers  at  St.  Mary's  had  meanwhile  built  a  suitable  church,  in 
which  one  of  the  Fathers  ministered.  The  missionaries,  entirely 
devoted  to  their  religious  duties,  constantly  refused  to  take  any 
part  in  the  political  organization  of  the  colony,  and  as  they  had 
been  invited  to  sit  in  the  first  legislature  of  Maryland,  "  desired  to 
be  excused  from  giving  voices  in  this  assembly."*  Such  is  the 
sti-iking  testimony  given  by  a  Protestant  author,  little  as  it  may 
tally  with  the  heated  accusations  of  the  many  writers  who  inces 
santly  complain  of  Jesuit  ambition. 

*  Bozman's  Maryland,  vol.  i.  p.  83.    The  precise  terms  of  the  minutea  of 
the  Assembly,  Jan.  25,  1637,  preserved  in  the  archives  at  Annapolis. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  29 

This  resolution  not  to  interfere  in  politics  made  them  helpless 
to  stem  the  religious  persecution  which  was  soon  to  drive  them 
from  the  arena  of  their  religious  labors.  Misled  by  an  idea  more 
generous  than  prudent,  Lord  Baltimore  had  openly  proclaimed 
the  liberty  of  Christian  worship  in  his  domain  of  Maryland ;  and 
this  first  example  of  toleration,  "  at  a  time  when,  in  fact,  tolera- 
tion was  not  considered  in  any  part  of  the  Protestant  world  to  be 
due  to  Roman  Catholics,"*  when,  in  fact,  every  Protestant  gov- 
ernment in  Europe,  and  even  the  other  English  colonies  in  Amer- 
ica, exercised  the  most  inhuman  intolerance  on  the  Catholics,  has 
been  extolled  with  enthusiasm  by  American  authors : 

"Upon  the  27th  day  of  March,  1634,"  says  Bancroft,  "the 
Catholics  took  quiet  possession  of  the  little  place,  and  religious 
liberty  obtained  a  home,  its  only  home  in  the  wide  world,  at  the 
humble  village  which  bore  the  name  of  St.  Mary's."f 

McMahon,  the  historian  of  Maryland,  also  says : 

"  Yet,  while  we  would  avoid  all  invidious  contrasts,  and  forget 
the  stern  spirit  of  the  Puritan,  which  so  frequently  mistook  reli- 
gious intolerance  for  holy  zeal,  we  can  turn  with  exultation  to  the 
Pilgrims  of  Maryland  as  the  founders  of  religious  liberty  in  the 
New  World.  They  erected  the  first  altar  to  it  on  this  continent, 
and  the  fires  first  kindled  on  it  ascended  to  heaven  amid  the 
blessings  hi  the  savage."}; 

This  toleration  was,  however,  only  partial ;  for  to  gain  entrance 
to  Lord  Baltimore's  vast  domains  it  was  necessary  to  believe  in 
the  divinity  of  Christ.  But  if,  even  with  this  restriction,  the  con- 
duct of  the  founders  of  Maryland  is  the  object  of  so  much  eulogy 
in  America,  we  must  claim  our  right  to  hesitate  in  joining  in  it. 
That  the  partisans  of  free  examination  should  refuse  to  hinder  the 
introduction  of  a  new  worship  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  their 

*  Rev.  Dr.  Baird,  in  his  "  Relijrion  in  America,"  p.  62. 
t  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  i.  247. 
\  McMahon's  Maryland,  198 — note. 


30  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

principles.  But  when  a  State  has  the  happiness  of  possessing 
unity  of  rehgion,  and  that  rehgion  the  truth,  we  cannot  conceive 
how  the  government  can  facilitate  the  division  of  creeds.  Lord 
Baltimore  had  seen  too  well  how  the  EnMish  Catholics  were 
crushed  by  the  Protestants,  as  soon  as  they  were  the  strongest 
and  most  numerous ;  he  should  then  have  foreseen  that  it  would 
be  so  in  Maryland,  so  that  the  English  Catholics,  instead  of  find- 
ing liberty  in  America,  only  changed  their  bondage.  Instead, 
then,  of  admiring  the  liberality  of  Lord  Baltimore,  we  prefer  to 
believe  that  he  obtained  his  charter  from  Charles  L,  only  on  the 
formal  condition  of  admitting  Protestants  on  an  equal  footing 
with  Catholics. 

The  Jesuits,  devoting  themselves,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  salva- 
tion of  the  red  men,  as  well  as  of  the  colonists,  were  not  unaided  in 
their  work  of  love.  In  1643  two  Capuchin  Fathers,  sent  out  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  Congregation  "  de  propaganda  fide," 
arrived  in  Elaine.* 

Ten  years  had  scarcely  elapsed  after  the  landing  of  Leonard 
Calvert  when  the  Protestants  of  Maryland  were  already  in  open 
insurrection  against  the  Catholics  and  their  governor.     The  Jesu- 

*  This  fact  is  mentioned  by  Henrion  in  his  History  of  Catholic  Missions, 
i.  635,  on  the  authority  of  the  "  Present  State  of  the  Church  in  all  parts  of 
tlie  World,  by  Urban  Cerri,"  page  2S2.  After  an  account  of  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sion, this  author  states  at  the  same  time  the  General  of  the  Capuchins,  ou 
the  recommendation  of  the  Congregation  "  de  propaganda  fide,"  sent  several 
French  and  English  Capuchins  to  Virginia,  under  which  name  the  Italian 
author  includes  all  the  English  colonies  in  North  America.  He  adds,  too, 
that  the  mission  was  restored  in  1650,  at  the  request  of  the  queen  dowager 
of  England,  but  that  it  was  subsequently  abandoned." 

The  Narrative  of  Father  White,  published  by  Force  in  his  Historical 
Tracts,  iv.  47,  says,  under  the  date  of  1643,  "Two  Fathers  of  the  order  of 
St.  Francis,  sent  from  England  the  year  before,  have  entered  into  a  portion 
of  the  labors  and  harvest,  between  whom  and  us  offices  of  kindness  are  mU' 
tually  observed  for  the  common  prosperity  of  the  Catholic  cause." 

Hennepin,  the  Flemish  EecoUect,  twice  in  his  "  New  Discovery"  (Edn. 
1698),  at  pages  59  and  281,  alludes  to  the  labors  of  English  Franciscans  in 
M-aryland. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  31 

its  were  seized  and  sent  oft',  loaded  with  irons,  to  England,  where 
they  were  confined  in  prisons  for  several  years.  In  1648  Father 
Fisher  succeeded  in  returning  to  Maryland,  and  immediately  on 
his  return  wrote  to  Rome — 

"By  the  singular  providence  of  God,  I  found  my  flock  collected 
together,  after  they  had  been  scattered  for  three  long  years ;  and 
they  were  really  in  more  flourishing  circumstances  than  those 
who  had  oppressed  and  plundered  them ;  with  what  joy  they  re- 
ceived me,  and  with  what  delight  I  met  them,  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  describe,  but  they  received  me  as  an  angel  of  God.  I 
have  now  been  with  them  a  fortnight,  and  am  preparing  for  the 
painful  separation ;  for  the  Indians  summon  me  to  their  aid,  and 
they  have  been  ill-treated  by  the  enemy  since  I  was  torn  from 
them.  I  hardly  know  what  to  do,  but  I  cannot  attend  to  all. 
God  grant  that  I  may  do  his  will  for  the  greater  glory  of  his 
name.  Truly  flowers  appear  in  our  land :  may  they  attain  to 
fruit."* 

Father  Andrew  ^Tiite,  despite  his  earnest  desire,  had  not  the 
happiness  of  returning  to  America.  After  many  years'  confine- 
ment he  was  banished  from  England,  but  by  his  Superior's  orders 
at  once  returned  again,  braving  the  rigor  of  the  penal  laws  against 
missionaries.  He  devoted  the  closing  years  of  his  life  to  the  samo 
ministry  in  which  he  had  spent  his  youth,  and  the  Apostle  of 
Maryland  died  at  London  in  IBS'?,  one  of  the  holiest  members  of 
an  order  which  has  produced  so  many  saints. 

Meanwhile  his  fellow  religious  maintained  their  ground  in 
America,  amid  the  constant  disorders  in  which  the  colony  lan- 
guished, and  for  more  than  a  century  the  English  Jesuits,  in  un- 
interrupted succession,  kept  alive  the  faith  of  the  settlers  amid 


*  Letter  cited  by  the  late  B.  U.  Campbell,  Esq.,  in  his  "  Historical  Sketch 
of  the  Early  Christian  Missions  among  the  Indians  of  iMaryland,"  from  which 
and  from  whose  "  Life  of  Archbishop  Carroll"  we  derive  much  of  these  chap- 
ters, as  will  be  evident  to  all  American  readers. 


32  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  persecutions  of  which  they  were  the  victims,  and  of  which  we 
can  not  omit  some  account. 

The  Cathohcs  had  ah-eady  been  persecuted,  but  they  did  not 
learn  to  persecute.  Composing  a  majority  in  the  Assembly  of 
1649,  they  passed  the  famous  "Act  concerning  religion,"  which 
provided  that  "no  person  whatsoever,  professing  to  believe  in 
Jesus  Christ,  shall  be  molested  for  or  in  respect  of  his  or  her  re- 
ligion, or  the  free  exercise  thereof."*  Yet  their  conduct  was 
scorned,  their  example  not  followed. 

In  1654  the  Provincial  Assembly  deprived  Cathohcs  of  their 
civil  rights,  and  decreed  that  liberty  of  conscience  should  not  ex- 
tend to  "popery,  prelacy,  or  licentiousness  of  opinion,"  an  act 
which  has  drawn  from  the  historian  Bancroft  this  reflection:  "The 
Puritans  had  neither  the  gratitude  to  respect  the  rights  of  the 
government,  by  which  they  had  been  received  and  fostered,  nor 
magnanimity  to  continue  the  toleration  to  which  alone  they  were 
indebted  for  their  residence  in  the  colony ."f 

In  1692  the  Assembly  established  the  Anglican  Church 
throughout  the  colony  of  Maryland,  dividing  the  counties  into 
parishes,  and  imposing  a  tax  on  citizens  of  every  denomination 
for  the  support  of  the  Protestant  clergy.  While  the  Czk  holies 
were  masters  of  the  government,  they  had  made  no  such  exaction 
for  the  support  of  their  missionaries.  The  Jesuits  received  con- 
cessions of  land  on  the  same  terms  as  other  colonists,  but  all  was 
voluntary  in  the  offerings  of  the  faithful ;  and  now  Catholics  were 
compelled  to  pay  for  the  support  of  a  creed  which  persecuted 
them. 

In  1704  a  new  law,  entitled  "  An  act  to  prevent  the  increase  of 
Popery  in  the  Province,"  prohibited  all  bishops  and  priests  from 
Baying  Mass,  exercising  the  spiritual  functions  of  their  ministry, 
or  endeavoring  to  gain  converts ;  it  also  forbid  Catholics  to  teach, 

*  See  this  elaborately  proved  in  Davis's  Day-star.     Scribner,  1856. 
t  Bancroft,  i.  261. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  33 

and  enabled  a  Cutliolic  diild,  by  becoming  a  Protestant,  to  exact 
from  its  Catholic  parents  its  proportion  of  his  property,  as  though 
they  were  dead.  CathoHcs  were,  however,  pei'mitted  to  hear 
Mass  in  their  own  famiHes  and  on  their  own  grounds,  and  only 
by  this  exception  could  the  Catholic  worship  be  practised  in  Ma- 
ryland for  seventy  years. 

The  property  of  the  Jesuits  rested  on  the  compact  between 
Lord  Baltimore  and  the  colonists,  entitled  "Conditions  of  Planta- 
tion," by  which  every  colonist  settling  with  five  able-bodied  labor- 
ers was  entitled  to  two  thonsand  acres  of  land  at  a  moderate  rate. 
Moreover,  the  Indian  kiugs  whom  they  had  converted,  had  made 
gratuitous  concessions  of  land  to  the  Church. 

According  to  the  law,  the  Jesuits  could  exercise  the  ministry 
only  in  their  own  house  and  for  their  own  servants ;  and  the  size 
of  the  chapels  corresponded  to  this  ostensible  design,  and  they 
were  always  connected  with  the  house.  Of  course,  however,  the 
Catholics  eluded  the  letter  of  the  law,  and  these  houses  became 
the  sole  refuge  of  religion  in  Maryland. 

In  1*706  an  act  authorized  the  meetings  of  the  Quakers,  so  that 
in  a  colony  founded  by  Catholics,  Catholics  were  the  only  victims 
of  the  intolerance  of  the  dominant  party.  During  the  following 
years  successive  laws  deprived  them  of  the  elective  franchise,  un- 
less they  took  the  test  oath  and  renounced  their  fjiith.  The 
executive  power,  too,  often  arbitrarily  issued  proclamations,  by  its 
own  authority,  "  to  take  children  from  the  pernicious  influence  of 
Catholic  parents,"  and  the  iVssembly  vot^d  that  Papists  should 
pay  double  the  tax  levied  on  Protestants.  The  animosity  against 
Catholics  at  last  became  such  that  they  were  forbidden  to  appear 
in  certain  parts  of  the  towns,  and  they  were  in  a  manner  shut  up 
in  a  sort  of  Ghetto. 

Many  of  the  Catholics  now  sought  to  escape  this  oppression, 
and  Daniel  Carroll,  father  of  the  future  Bishop  of  Baltimore, 
sailed  to  France  in  1752  to  negotiate  for  the  emigration  of  all  the 

2* 


34  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUIiCH 

Maryland  Catliolics  to  Louisiana.  For  this  purpose  he  had  sev- 
eral interviews  with  the  ministry  of  Louis  XV.,  in  order  to  con- 
vince them  of  the  immense  resources  of  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi ;  but  the  government  which  abandoned  Canada  to  England, 
and  sold  Louisiana  to  Spain,  was  not  able  to  appreciate  the  fore- 
cast of  Carroll,  and  his  offers  were  rejected. 

During  all  this  period  of  oppression  the  Catholics  of  Maryland, 
with  rare  exceptions,  remained  faithful  to  the  Church,  and  as 
their  missionaries  afforded  them  means  of  Catholic  education, 
many  of  the  younger  members,  to  pursue  more  extensive  studies, 
crossed  the  ocean.  Many  of  both  sexes  in  France  and  Belgium 
entered  religious  orders ;  some  returning  as  Jesuit  Fathers  to  re- 
pay the  care  bestowed  on  themselves ;  others,  by  their  prayers  in 
silent  cloisters,  obtaining  graces  and  spiritual  blessings  for  their 
distant  Maryland.  Of  the  Jesuits  who  labored  in  Maryland  prior 
to  the  Revolution,  a  great  many  were  natives  of  the  province,  and 
we  find  others  on  the  mission  in  England. 

The  penal  laws  prevented  any  emigration  of  Catholics  to  Mary- 
land, and  indeed  the  only  accession  to  their  numbers  which  the 
faithful  in  Maryland  received  from  abroad,  was  a  number  of 
Acadians,  who,  after  beholding  the  devastation  of  their  happy 
homes  on  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  wei-e  torn  from  their  native  shores  in 
1755,  and  thrown  destitute  on  the  coast  of  the  various  colonies. 
Those  who  were  set  ashore  in  Maryland  seem  to  have  been  more 
happy  than  most  of  their  sufieriiig  countrymen.  For  a  considera- 
ble period  they  enjoyed  the  presence  of  a  priest — the  Rev.  Mr. 
Leclerc — and  raised  a  church  on  a  hill  outside  of  Baltimore. 
On  the  departure  of  this  excellent  man,  who  left  them  vestments 
and  altar  plate,  these  Acadi;ms  had  to  rely  on  the  occasional 
visits  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers.* 

Meanwhile  the  Anglican  clergy  in  Maryland,  fattening  on  theii 

*  Kobin,  Nouveau  Voyage,  p.  98. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  35 

tithes,  lived  in  plenty  and  disorder  amid  their  slaves,  without  iu 
the  least  troubling  their  minds  about  preaching  to  their  flocks. 
So  notorious  is  this  disorderly  conduct  of  the  colonial  clergy,  that 
the  Protestant  Bishop  of  Maryland,  a  few  years  since,  exclaimed : 
"  Often  as  I  hear  and  read  authentic  evidence  of  the  character  of 
a  large  proportion  of  the  clergy  in  the  province  of  Maryland,  two 
generations  since,  I  am  struck  with  wonder  that  God  spared  a 
church  so  universally  corrupt,  and  did  not  utterly  remove  its  can- 
dlestick out  of  its  place."* 

As  a  contrast,  we  give  the  follo^ving  address  of  the  legislatm-e 
to  the  Governor  of  Maryland,  on  the  16th  of  March,  1697  : 

"  On  the  complaint  of  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  England, 
that  the  Popish  priests  in  Charles  connty  do,  of  their  own  accord, 
in  this  violent  and  raging  mortality  in  that  county,  make  it  their 
business  to  go  up  and  down  the  county  to  persons'  houses,  when 
d}dng  and  frantic,  and  endeavor  to  seduce  and  make  proselytes  of 
them,  and  in  such  condition  boldly  presume  to  administer  the 
sacraments  to  them :  We  humbly  entreat  your  excellency  to 
issue  your  proclamation  to  restrain  and  prohibit  such  their  ex- 
travagant and  presumptuous  beha^^or."| 

Thus  the  wide  diff'erence  between  a  ministry  of  truth  and  a 
ministry  of  error,  appeared  iu  Maryland  as  elsewhere,  the  former 
devoting  life  in  the  ser\nce  of  their  neighbor,  the  latter  only  think- 
ing of  the  enjoyments  of  life. 

This  degradation  of  the  Anglican  clergy  at  last  sapped  all  their 
authority,  and  the  feelings  of  the  Protestants  towards  their  Cath- 
olic countrymen  began  gradually  to  change.  "When  discontent 
with  the  mother  country  awakened  ideas  of  an  insurrection 
throughout  the  colonies,  it  became  important  to  conciliate  the 
Catholics;  and  both  parties,  whigs  and  tories,  vied  witb  eaoJi 

*  Campbell's  Life  of  Archbishop  Carroll— in  U.   S,   Catholic  Magazine, 
ni.  99. 
i  Campbell,  ed.  iii.  40. 


36  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

other  in  emancipating  tliem.  The  convention  in  1774  made  the 
follo>ving  appeal  to  the  people  : 

"  As  our  opposition  to  the  settled  plan  of  the  British  adminis- 
tration to  enslave  America  will  be  strengthened  by  a  union  of  all 
ranks  of  men  within  this  province,  we  do  most  earnestly  recom- 
mend that  all  former  differences  about  religion  or  politics,  and  all 
private  animosities  and  quarrels  of  every  kind,  from  henceforth 
cease,  and  be  forever  buried  in  oblivion ;  and  we  entreat,  we  con- 
jure every  man  by  his  duty  to  God,  his  countiy,  and  his  posterity, 
cordially  to  unite  in  defence  of  our  common  rights  and  liberties." 

The  act  emancipating  the  Catholics  of  Mar3dand  followed  close 
on  this  appeal ;  but,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  wrested  from  the 
party  in  power  by  the  critical  position  of  affairs,  and  did  not 
spring  from  any  noble  motive.  This  should  never  be  forgotten 
when  Protestants  boast  of  the  toleration  which  they  allow  the 
Church  in  the  United  States.* 


CHAPTER   III. 


IHE    CHURCH    IN    THE    REPUBLIC. 


Maryland— Father  John  Carroll— How  the  United  States  granted  liberty  of  consojeuce 
to  the  Catholics— Mission  of  Father  Carroll  to  Canada. 

The  persecution  of  the  Catholics  had  ceased  in  Maryland  with 
the  necessity  of  conciliating  them  in  the  struggle  for  indepen- 
dence ;  and  the  Declaration  of  Rights  voted  by  that  province  in 
1776,  by  article  33,  granted  them  full  toleration  and  religious 

*  Cretineau  Joly's  account  in  liis  History  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  is  quite 
inaccurate.  Henrion,  "Histoire  des  Missions  Catboliques,"  is  more  hriel 
and  more  exact. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  37 

equality.  At  the  moment  wlien  Cutliolics  thus  obtained  a  tardy 
justice,  there  were  in  the  whole  extent  of  Maryland  twenty  Jesuits, 
or  rather  ex-Jesuits,  for  the  society  had  been  suppressed  some 
years  before.  But  tlie  Fathers  continued  to  live,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, in  the  same  way  as  though  their  order  subsisted  in  all  its 
peifection ;  and  as  their  Superior  at  the  time  of  the  suppi'cssion. 
Father  Lewis  was  at  the  same  time  Vicar-general  of  the  Vicar 
apostolic  of  the  London  District,  which  gave  him  authority  ovei 
all  the  Catholic  clergy  in  the  United  States,  the  missionaries  con 
tinned  to  regard  him  as  their  head.  They  accordingly  recognized 
his  right  to  receive  the  revenues  of  the  society's  property  and  di- 
vide it  among  the  Fathers  for  their  support. 

The  first  effect  of  the  emancipation  of  the  Catholics  was  the 
erection  of  churches  in  the  towns,  whereas  till  then  there  had 
only  been  chapels  in  the  rural  districts,  on  the  plantations  or  farms 
possessed  by  the  Jesuits.  Thus,  in  1774,  Baltimore  was  only  a 
station  visited  once  a  month  by  a  Father  from  the  farm  at  White 
Marsh.  Mass  was  said  in  a  room  in  the  presence  of  some  forty 
Catholics,  mostly  French  people,  who  had  been  barbarously  and 
treacherously  dragged  off  from  Acadia  or  Nova  Scotia  in  1756. 
The  priest  took  with  him  his  vestments  and  altar  plate,  for  the 
city  where  many  councils  have  since  been  held,  did  not  then  pos- 
sess even  a  chalice  !  Father  John  Carroll  was  at  this  lime  on  a 
farm  belonging  to  his  family  at  Rock  Creek,  ten  miles  from  the 
present  city  of  Washington.  He  visited  the  Catholics  for  m.any 
miles  around,  and  as  he  became  the  first  Bishop  of  Baltimore  and 
of  the  Union,  we  shall  give  a  short  sketch  of  his  hfe. 

John  Carroll  was  born  in  1735,  at  Upper  Marlborough  in  Ma- 
ryland. His  father,  Daniel  Carroll,  a  native  of  L'eland,  had  pre- 
ferred the  confiscation  of  his  property  to  a  renunciation  of  his 
faith.  His  mother,  Eleanora  Dai'nall,  was  the  daughter  of  a  rich 
Maryland  planter,  who  had  secui-ed  her  a  v^ery  careful  education 
in  a  French  convent.     She  availed  herself  of  it  to  direct  in  person 


38  THE   CATnOLIC   CHURCH 

the  tuition  of  her  sou  till  he  had  to  go  to  college.  The  lavrs 
Btiictly  prohibited  Catholics  tVoui  having  schools,  but  the  Jesuits 
had  eluded  this  prohibition,  and  established  a  school  at  Bohemia 
Manor.  In  this  secluded  house  they  received  as  many  as  forty 
Bcholars  at  a  time.  Young  Carroll  attended  this  school  for  some 
years,  and  in  1*748  set  out  for  France,  in  order  to  finish  his  studies 
with  the  Fathers  at  St.  Omers.  There  he  resolved  to  enter  a 
society^ so  identified  with  the  existence  of  Catholicity  in  Maryland, 
and  after  long  years  of  novitiate  and  study  at  Watten  and  Liege, 
he  was  ordained  in  1759  and  took  his  last  vows  in  llll. 

The  following  year.  Father  Carroll  travelled  over  many  parts  of 
Europe  as  tutor  of  the  son  of  Lord  Stourton ;  and  in  1773  re- 
paired to  Bruges,  where  the  English  Jesuits  had  gathered  on  the 
confiscation  of  St.  Omers  and  of  Watten,  by  a  decree  of  the  Par- 
hament  of  Paris,  issued  in  August,  1762. 

In  this  city  the  Bull  reached  him,  which,  under  the  title  of 
"  Dominus  ac  Redemptor,"  suppressed  the  Society  of  Jesus.  He 
then  retired  to  England,  where  he  became  chaplain  to  Lord  Arun- 
del ;  but  this  life  did  not  suit  his  taste,  and  in  1774  he  returned 
to  Maryland  to  devote  himself  to  the  care  of  his  Catholic  country- 
men. 

Father  John  Carroll  found  the  thirteen  American  colonies  pre- 
luding the  energetic  struggle  which  was  to  terminate  in  their  in- 
dependence. His  liveliest  sympathies  were  for  the  Revolutionary 
cause,  for  he  saw  that  it  had  begun  in  Maryland  by  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  Catholics,  and  there  was  ground  for  hope  that  the 
other  States  would  gradually  follow  the  example. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  the  United  States  as  a  government 
proclaimed  liberty  of  worship  from  the  time  of  the  Confederation, 
and  that  this  fundamental  principle  is  an  integral  part  of  the 
Constitution  which  binds  the  several  States  together.  It  was  not 
BO.  Religious  questions  have  at  all  times  been  considered  as 
questions  of  interior  administration,  falling  within  the  jurisdiction 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  39 

of  the  several  States,  and  the  only  mention  made  of  religion  in 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  the  third  section  of  Article 
VI.:  "No  religions  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualitication 
to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States ;"  and  one 
of  the  amendments  subsequently  passed,  which  says,  "  Congress 
Bhall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or  pro- 
hibiting the  free  exercise  thereof."  As  the  historian  of  Maryland 
justly  observes,  "  It  is  possible  that  instances  may  occur  where 
this  amendment  to  the  Constitution  may  be  of  some  use ;  but  as 
Congress  seldom  has  occasion  to  legislate  on  subjects  of  religion, 
the  oppression  of  individuals  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  religious 
as  well  as  civil  rights,  is  most  generally  to  be  apprehended  from 
the  State  governments."*  And,  in  fact,  the  provisions  of  the 
Constitution  did  not  prevent  the  several  States  from  passing  laws 
to  establish  or  prohibit  any  religion,  in  their  discretion.  Still,  as 
we  have  said,  the  original  thirteen  States,  one  after  another, 
granted  to  the  Catholics  liberty  of  conscience,  but  many  of  them 
long  refused  the  Catholics  civil  and  political  rights.  Thus,  it  is 
only  since  1806  that  CathoHcs,  to  hold  office  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  have  been  dispensed  with  a  solemn  abjuration  of  all  obe- 
dience to  a  foreign  ecclesiastical  power.  Down  to  January  1, 1836, 
to  be  an  elector  and  eligible  in  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  it  was 
necessary  to  swear  to  a  belief  in  the  truth  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion. In  New  Jersey,  a  clause  excluding  Catholics  from  all  offices 
was  abolished  only  in  1844.  And  even  now,  eighty  years  after 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire 
still  excludes  Catholics  from  every  office,  stubbornly  resisting  all 
the  petitions  presented  for  a  removal  of  this  stigma  from  their 
statute-book. 

As  to  the  States  founded  on  ten-itoiy  ceded  by  France  or  Spain, 
Buch  as  Louisiana,  Floi'ida,  Michigan,  Indiana,  or  severed  from 

*  Bozmtm's  Maryland,  i.  291. 


4:0  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Mexico,  like  Texas  and  California,  the  Catholics,  original  proprie 
tors  of  the  soil,  obtained,  by  the  act  of  cession,  the  free  enjoyment 
of  their  worship ;  and  there  is  on  the  side  of  Protestantism  mere 
justice,  but  no  generosity,  in  keeping  the  faith  of  treaties. 

Uear,  too,  how  Bishop  Carroll  himself,  soon  after  his  elevation 
to  the  Episcopacy,  rendered,  in  1790,  an  account  of  the  motives 
which  had  led  to  the  liberty  of  conscience  for  the  Catholics  of 
America : 

"  Ila^nng  renounced  subjection  to  England,  the  American 
States  found  it  necessary  to  form  ncAv  constitutions  for  their  future 
government,  and  happily  a  free  toleration  of  religions  was  made  a 
fundamental  in  all  their  new  constitutions,  and  in  many  of  them 
not  only  a  toleration  was  decreed,  but  likewise  a  perfect  equality 
of  civil  rights  to  persons  of  every  Chiistian  profession.  In  some, 
indeed,  the  yet  unextinguished  spirit  of  prejudice  and  intolei-ance 
excluded  Cathohcs  from  this  equality. 

"  Many  reasons  concurred  to  produce  this  happy  and  just  arti- 
cle in  the  new  constitutions.  First,  some  of  the  leading  charac- 
ters in  the  direction  of  American  councils  were  by  principle  averse 
to  all  religious  oppression,  and  having  been  much  acquainted 
with  the  manners  and  doctrines  of  Roman  Catholics,  represented 
strongly  the  injustice  of  excluding  them  from  any  civil  right ; 
secondly.  Catholics  concurred  as  generally,  and  with  equal  zeal, 
in  repelling  that  oppression  which  first  produced  the  hostilities 
with  Great  Britain,  and  it  would  have  been  impolitic,  as  well  as 
unjust,  to  deprive  them  of  a  common  share  of  advantages  pur- 
chased with  common  danger  and  by  united  exertions ;  thirdly, 
the  assistance,  or  at  least  the  neutrality  of  Canada,  was  deemed 
necessary  to  the  success  of  the  United  States,  and  to  give  equal 
rights  to  Roman  Catholics  might  tend  to  dispose  the  Canadians 
favorably  towards  the  American  cause ;  lastly,  France  began  to 
show  a  disposition  to  befriend  the  United  States,  and  it  was 
conceived  to  be  very  impolitic  to  disgust  that  powerful  king* 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  41 

(lorn  by  unjust   severities   against   the   religion   wliicli    it   pro- 
fessed."* 

It  was,  then,  political  reasons  which  induced  the  States  to  grant 
liberty  of  conscience  to  Catholics;  and  we  cannot  insist  too 
strongly  on  this  point  in  face  of  the  affirmations  of  European  Pro- 
testantism, which  incessantly  cites  the  example  of  the  United 
States  to  induce  men  to  believe  in  its  generosity  to  Catholics.  It 
gives  us  pleasure,  too,  to  state  that  France  exercised  a  twofold 
influence  in  arresting  the  oppression  of  American  Catholics :  first, 
by  the  desire  which  the  States  had  of  conciliating  Louis  XVI. ; 
and  next,  by  their  prudent  resolve  not  to  shock  the  religious  feel- 
ings of  the  French  colonists  in  Canada.  At  the  penod  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  in  17*76,  Canada  had  been  but  six- 
teen years  under  the  power  of  England,  and  as  it  had  so  long  and 
so  patriotically  resisted  the  English  arms,  the  recollection  of  the 
old  regime  would  naturally  be  still  fresh.  It  was  so,  indeed  ;  and 
the  United  States,  allies  of  France,  would  naturally  expect  aid 
from  Canada;  but  we  cannot  conceive  why  Louis  XVI.  made  no 
attempt  to  reconquer  Canada  for  himself,  for  this  would  have 
given  France  back  a  colony,  and  would  have  enabled  her  to  ren- 
der most  efficient  aid  to  the  United  States.  The  enterprise  would 
have  been  most  easy,  had  France  shown  a  more  prudent  or  less 
disinterested  policy.  The  Canadians,  placed  between  their  French 
brethren  and  their  new  masters,  would  not  have  hesitated  to 
throw  off  the  English  yoke ;  while,  solicited  merely  by  revolted 
colonies,  whose  old  hatred  against  themselves  and  their  faith  they 
knew  too  well,  they  refused  to  make  common  cause  with  the  lat- 
ter, and  England  found  in  the  French  and  Catholic  colony  left 
her,  a  powerful  bulwark  against  the  United  States. 


*  Life  and  Times  of  Archbishop  Carroll,  by  the  late  B.  U.  Campbell,  Esq. 
(U.  S.  Catholic  Magazine,  iv.  251). 

Brent,  in  his  Life,  p.  68,  cites  a  translation  of  a  French  translation,  '^hlle 
Mr.  Campbell  copied  the  archbishop's  original  letter. 


4:2  THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

" Nothing,"  says  a  Canadian  liistoiian,  " nothing  could  roase 
the  colonists  from  their  indifference.  The  fact  is,  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  their  sympathies  was  not  to  be  found  in  America 
The  mere  sight  of  the  white  banner,  with  its  fleurs-de-lys,  would 
have  thrilled  every  fibre  of  those  apparently  apathetic  hearts.*'* 

The  Catholics  of  Maryland  had  all  resolutely  embraced  the 
side  of  American  independence.  They  had  already  gained  liberty 
of  worship.  They  had  sent  to  Congress  two  of  their  most  emi- 
nent men — Daniel  Carroll,  the  elder  brother  of  John,  and  Charles 
Carroll,  his  cousin.  They  now  looked  forward  to  an  alliance  with 
Canada  as  a  means  of  gaining  to  their  Church  a  fair  share  in  the 
councils  of  the  Union.  An  American  army  had  already  in  1775 
taken  Montreal  and  besieged  Quebec.  Though  repulsed  at  the 
latter  place,  they  kept  possession  of  Montreal,  always  hoping  that 
their  prolonged  presence  would  lead  to  a  general  revolt  of  the 
Canadians  against  the  Enghsh.  To  hasten  this,  Congress  dis- 
patched to  Canada  Franklin,  Charles  Carroll  and  Chase,  of  Ma- 
ryland, and  in\4ted  Father  John  Carroll  to  join  them,  in  the  hope 
that  he  would  exercise  some  influence  over  the  Catholic  clergy. 

The  delegates  left  New  York  on  the  2d  of  April,  1776,  but 
with  all  their  dispatch,  reached  Montreal  only  on  the  29th.  (We 
incidentally  mention  the  length  of  this  journey,  which  we  have 
made  between  sunrise  and  sunset.)  Frankhn  assembled  the  prin- 
cipal colonists,  while  Father  Carroll  endeavored  to  enter  into  cor- 
respondence with  the  clergy;  but  neither  found  his  advances 
welcomed  as  he  had  expected,  and  on  the  13th  of  May  they  set 
out  together  for  New  York.  Franklin  having  fallen  sick  on  the 
way,  his  fellow-traveller  nursed  him  with  true  devotedness ;  and 
duiing  this  embassy,  the  priest  and  the  philosopher  contracted  a 
sincere  friendship,  as  we  find  from  the  grateful  letters  of  Franklin : 

*  Histoire  du  Canada,  par  F.  X.  Garneau  (Quebec,  1852),  ii.  480.  "The 
English  Hag  nor  the  American  flag  is  the  flag  of  'ours,'"  the  Canadians 
would  say,  in  their  quaint  but  touching  language. 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  43 

"  As  to  myself,  I  grew  daily  more  feeble,  and  I  tliink  I  could 
hardly  have  got  along  so  far,  but  for  Mr.  Carroll's  friendly  assist- 
ance and  tender  care  of  me."* 

We  shall  hereafter  find  Franklin  not  forgetful  of  his  kind  in- 
firmarian,  when  it  was  proposed  to  appoint  a  bishop  for  the 
United  States. 

Congress  had  voted  an  address  to  the  Canadians,  which  con- 
tained these  words  :  "  We  are  too  well  acquainted  with  the  liberty 
of  sentiment  distinguishing  your  nation  to  imagine  that  difference 
of  religion  will  prejudice  you  against  a  hearty  amity  with  us. 
You  know  that  the  transcendent  nature  of  freedom  elevates  those 
who  unite  in  her  cause  above  all  such  low-minded  infirmities. 
The  Swiss  cantons  furnish  a  memorable  proof  of  this  truth.  Their 
Union  is  composed  of  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant  States, 
living  in  the  utmost  concord  and  peace  with  one  another,  and 
thereby  enabled,  ever  since  they  bravely  vindicated  their  freedom, 
to  defy  and  defeat  ev^ery  tyi'ant  that  has  invaded  them."f 

These  words,  however,  inspired  the  Canadians  with  little  confi- 
dence, when  they  saw  the  same  Congress  address  the  people  of 
Great  Britain  in  October,  1774,  complaining  that  the  Quebec  Act 
had  granted  religious  liberty  in  Canada : 

*'  Nor  can  we  suppress  our  astonishment  that  a  British  Parlia- 
ment should  ever  consent  to 'establish  in  that  country  a  rehgion 
that  has  deluged  your  island  in  blood,  and  dispersed  impiety, 
bigotry,  persecution,  murder,  and  rebellion  through  every  part  of 
the  world." 

On  the  conquest  of  Canada  by  England,  the  country  was  for 
Bome  years  under  the  iron  rule  of  martial  law,  and  religion  was 
fettered  in  a  thousand  ways,  while  every  favor  was  shown  to  in- 
vading Protestantism.     At  the  sight  of  the  agitation  in  New 

♦  Franklin's  Works,  viii.  154. 

t  "  Address  to  the  Inhabitantn  of  the  Province  of  Queboo,  '  cit^d  by 
'^ampbell. 


44  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

England,  the  home  government  felt  the  necessity  of  attaching 
Canada  by  concessions,  and  the  Quebec  Act  of  1774  restored  to 
the  Canadians  their  French  law,  and  redintegrated  the  Catholic 
worship  in  all  its  rights.  To  the  Americans  and  their  friends  in 
England,  this  act  was  a  plan  to  raise  a  Catholic  army  in  Canada  for 
their  subjugation ;  their  hostility  to  it  was  bitter,  and  necessarily 
predisposed  the  Canadians  against  them.     As  Mr.  Garneau  says : 

"  The  language  of  Congi-ess  would  have  been  fanatical,  if  those 
who  employed  it  had  been  serious.  It  was  foolish  and  puerile  in 
the  mouths  of  those  who  were  about  to  invite  the  Canadians  to 
join  their  cause,  in  order  side  by  side  to  give  America  her  inde- 
pendence. This  avowal,  then,  as  to  the  act  of  1774,  was  incon- 
siderate ;  it  did  no  good  in  England,  and  alienated  Canada  from 
the  cause  of  the  confederates."* 

In  order  to  justify  Father  John  Carroll's  course  at  Montreal, 
we  must  say  that,  as  his  historian  very  particularly  insists,  he 
merely  preached  neutrahty  to  the  Canadians.f  The  Catholics  of 
Maryland,  scarcely  yet  in  possession  of  liberty  of  conscience,  natu- 
rally desired  to  have  as  friends  their  Canadian  brethren  in  the 
faith.  They  feared  that  if  the  Canadians  took  up  arms  against 
the  United  States,  the  fanaticism  of  the  Protestants,  just  lulled  for 
a  time,  would  awaken  with  new  fury  against  them.  Father  Car- 
roll's mission  was  therefore  religious  in  its  object.  But  it  could 
not  be  so  regarded  in  Canada,  and  the  loyal  Breton  bishop  who 
then  occupied  the  See  of  Quebec,  Monseigneur  Oliver  Briaud,  for- 
bid his  clergy  to  have  any  intercourse  vnih  the  ecclesiastic  en- 
voy of  Congress,  whom  he  nevertheless  highly  respected,  and,  as  we 
shall  see,  congratulated  most  warmly  on  his  subsequent  elevation 
to  the  Episcopacy.  In  the  extraordinary  history  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  the  case  of  this  Jesuit,  ambassador  fi'om  a  Congress  of  Ke- 
publican  Protestants,  is  not  the  least  remarkable  episotle ;  and 

*  Histoire  du  Canada,  ii.  422. 

t  Biographical  Sketch  of  Archbishop  Carroll,  40. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  45 

whilo  the  democrats  of  every  clime  reproach  the  children  of  St. 
Ignatius  with  being  the  tools  of  despotic  power,  they  can  offer 
F'ather  John  CaiTolI  as  a  sincere  patriot,  a  zealous  partisan  of  lib- 
erty, and  one  of  the  real  founders  of  American  independence. 

Note.— In  order  to  prove  that  Catholics  in  the  United  States  owe  the  en- 
joyment of  civil  and  political  rights  to  happy  circumstancos,  and  not  to  the 
generosity  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  we  iiave  been  at  some  pains  to  draw 
up  the  following  table,  which  gives  the  period  when  the  several  States  ceased 
to  admit  the  exclusive  eligibility  of  Protestants^  This  work,  never  before 
done,  has  cost  us  some  trouble;  but  we  deem  it  uselul,  in  order  to  expose 
the  fallacy  of  the  wide-spread  idea  that  the  emancipation  of  Catholics  is  due 
to  the  Congress  of  1776.  It  will  be  observed,  too,  that  in  several  States  a 
man  must  believe  either  in  God  or  in  the  Christian  religion,  or  at  least  in  a 
future  state  of  rewards  and  punishment,  to  be  eligible  to  office.  This  is  far 
from  that  unbridled  liberty  which  is  supposed  to  reign  throughout  the  States. 
The  article  guaranteeing  liberty  of  conscience  is  generally  in  these  terms: 
"  The  profession  and  free  exercise  of  every  religious  creed  and  form  of  wor- 
ship is  and  shall  be  permitted  to  all ;  but  the  liberty  of  conscience  hereby 
gi  aranteed  shall  not  be  extended  to  excuse  acts  of  licentiousness  or  practices 
dangerous  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  State." 

In  the  following  list,  the  States  marked  f  were  colonized  by  France  or 
Spam,  and  the  free  exercise  of  the  Cathohc  religion  is  guaranteed  by  treaty. 

United  States — Founded  1776 — Constitution  1787. — The  Declaration  of 
Independence  in  1776,  and  the  Articles  of  Confederation  in  1778.  The  Con- 
stitution of  1787  merely  provides  that  no  rehgious  test  shall  be  required  from 
any  officer  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  the  first  amendment  ratified  in 
1791  says :  "  Congress  shall  pass  no  law  concerning  the  establishment  of  a 
religion  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof." 

Massachusetts — 1776 — Constitution  1779-80. — Liberty  of  conscience.  The 
Legislature  may  levy  a  tax  to  support  the  Protestant  worship,  where  not  vol- 
untarily given.  Every  one  must,  to  hold  office,  abjure  under  oath  all  obedi- 
ence to  a  foreign  ecclesiastical  power.     This  oath  was  modified  in  1821. 

New  HAMPSHrRE — 1776 — Constitution  1792. — Liberty  of  conscience.  But 
the  ineligibility  of  Catholics,  established  prior  to  the  Revolution  by  the  Royal 
Charter,  has  still  the  force  of  law. 

Rhode  Island — 1776 — Charter  1663,  and  Constitution  1842,  grant  full  lib- 
erty of  conscience  without  any  test.    Penal  laws  repealed  1778. 

Connecticut — 1776 — Constitution  1818. — Liberty  of  conscience.  No  re- 
striction as  to  Catholics. 

New  York — 1776 — Constitution  1777. — Liberty  of  conscience.  But  for- 
eigners, to  be  naturalized,  must  abjure  all  foreign  allegiance,  temporal  and 
spiritual.     A  test  oath  was  also  passed,  and  remained  in  force  till  1806. 

I?ew  .Iersey — 1776 — Constitution  1776. — Liberty  of  conscience.  No  Pro- 
testant inhabitant  shall  be  deprived  of  his  civil  and  political  rights.  Tho 
new  Constitution  in  1844  suppressed  this  clause. 


46  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Dela-ware — 1776 — Constitution  1776  and  1831. — Liberty  of  conscience. 
No  test. 

Pennsylvania — 1776 — Constitution  1790. — Liberty  of  conscience.  No 
man  who  believes  in  God  and  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishment 
shall  be  excluded  from  office. 

Maryland — 1776 — Constitution  1776. — No  test,  except  a  declaration  of  be- 
lief in  tlie  Christian  religion.  Every  one  professing  the  Christian  religion 
shall  be  free  to  practise  it. 

Virginia— 1770— Constitution  1776.— Liberty  of  conscience  1830.     No  test. 

North  Carolina — 1776 — Constitution  1776. — Every  man  who  shall  deny 
the  existence  of  God,  or  the  truths  of  the  Protestant  religion,  or  the  divine 
authority  of  the  Old  or  New  Testament,  shall  not  hold  any  office  in  the 
State.     The  Constitution  of  1835  substituted  Christian  for  Protestant. 

South  Carolina — 1776 — Constitution  1790. — Free  exercise  of  religion  to 
all  mankind. 

Georgia — 1776 — Constitution  1798. — Liberty  of  conscience.  No  person 
shall  be  molested  in  his  civil  rights  purely  for  religious  principle. 

Vermont— 1791 — Constitution  1793. — No  test.  Every  sect  bound  to  keep 
the  Sabbath  and  have  some  worship. 

Tennessee — 1796 — Constitution  1796. — No  man  can  hold  office  that  denies 
the  existence  of  God  or  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishment. 

Kentucky — 1799 — Constitution  1799. — Liberty  of  conscience.     No  test. 

Ohio — 1802 — Constitution  1802. — Liberty  of  conscience.     No  test. 

t  Louisiana — 1812 — Constitution  1812. — No  article  on  religion.  Clerffynien 
excluded  from  office. 

t  Indiana— 1816. 

t  Mississippi — 1817. 

t  Illinois — 1818. 

t  Alabama— 1820. 

t  Maine— 1820. 

t  Missouri— 1821— Constitution  1820. 

t  Arkansas— 1836. 

t  Michigan— 1836, 

t  Florida— 1845— Constitution  1888. 

\  Texas— 1845. 

t  Iowa— 1846. 

t  AVisooNsiN— 1848. 

t  California — 1849. 

Liberty  of  conscience.     No  tMk 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  47 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE    CHURCH    DURING    THE    REVOLUTION. 
Father  Carroll  and  Father  Floquet— Father  Carroll  at  Rock  Creek. 

We  have  thus  traced  to  its  close  the  embassy  of  Carroll  to  Can- 
ada. One  episode  connected  with  it  may  not  be  uninteresting. 
The  Bishop  of  Quebec  had,  as  we  have  seen,  forbid  his  clergy  to 
have  any  intercourse  with  Father  Carroll.  One  of  the  priests  of 
Montreal,  for  a  supposed  infringement  of  this  order,  was  suspended 
and  summoned  to  Quebec.  His  letters  to  Monseignem-  Briand 
throw  considerable  light  on  the  public  feeling  in  Canada  at  the 
time,  and  on  the  mission  of  Father  Carroll. 

Father  Peter  R.  Floquet  had  been  twice  Superior  of  the  Jesuits 
in  Canada.  Although  a  native  of  France,  he  continued  to  reside 
in  Canada  after  the  conquest,  and  offended  the  government  by 
speaking  in  favor  of  the  American  colonies. 

"  I  was  complaisant  to  the  Americans  out  of  human  respect," 
says  he,  in  a  letter  to  the  bishop  on  the  15th  of  June,  1776 ;  "if 
I  had  been  as  violent  against  them  as  many  others  were,  the 
whole  brunt  of  the  stoim  would  have  fallen  on  my  head,  as  I  was 
the  only  Jesuit  at  Montreal.  I  would  have  served  as  an  example 
to  others,  and  perhaps  have  occasioned  a  persecution  of  my  con- 
h'eres  in  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland. 

"After  the  flight  of  the  king's  generals,  the  Montreal  deputies 
promised  the  Americans  a  true  or  a  false  and  deceptive  neutrality. 
I  believed  it  true  and  to  be  kept.  I  kept  it,  and  advised  others  to 
do  so ;  this  made  me  tolerant  to  both  parties  in  the  tribunal  of 
penance. 


iS  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

"  The  American  Colonel  Hazen  commanded  for  some  time  at 
Montreal.  He  restored  to  me  the  part  of  om*  house  which  Mr. 
Murray  had  turned  into  a  prison.  I  enjoyed  this  favor,  which  I 
had  not  sought,  and  I  thanked  the  author  of  it.  Mr.  Hazen  sent 
me  a  written  invitation  to  dinner.  I  dined  with  him  once,  accom- 
panied by  an  Iiish  royalist  priest  who  lived  with  me,  and  who 
had  been  previously  intimate  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hazen. 

"Towards  the  close  of  the  winter,  the  Americans  raised  two 
companies  of  Canadian  mihtia,  Lieber  and  Oliver.  The  new  re- 
cruits were  on  garrison  duty  at  Montreal  when  the  paschal  season 
opened.  On  being  asked  to  hear  their  confessions,  I  consented  to 
receive  them,  if  I  could  be  assured  that  they  would  not  go  to  be- 
siege Quebec,  and  would  merely  do  service  peacefully  at  Montreal. 
On  Mr.  Oliver's  assuring  me  of  this,  I  yielded.  On  Easter  Tues- 
day, after  dinner,  I  began  to  hear  the  least  bad,  but  was  far  from 
appro\dng  them.  Those  who  got  leave  to  receive  went  among 
the  crowd  to  the  parish  church  until  Low  Sunday  inclusively. 

"  On  Tuesday  after  Low  Sunday,  three  tardy  militia-men  re- 
ceived absolution  from  me,  and  presented  themselves  at  the  parish 
church.  They  were  publicly  repulsed.  I  confessed  and  commu- 
nicated them,  j a Jiuis  clausis. 

"  In  truth,  in  conscience,  and  before  God,  am  I  an  American,  a 
rebel,  or  have  I  been  ?  No,  Monseigneur !  Last  fall,  w^hen  they 
were  assembHug  at  Montreal  the  habitans  of  good  will  for  an  ex- 
pedition which  failed,  no  one  received  them  better,  confessed  and 
communicated  more,  than  I  did.  I  told  those  who  consulted  me 
that  they  did  well  to  vohmteer  for  the  king's  service,  and  that 
those  who  resisted  the  orders  did  wrong.  I  have  never  ceased 
chanting  the  '  Domine  Salvum'  and  the  prayer  for  the  king  at 
Benediction. 

"  A  Father  Carroll,  a  missionary  from  Maryland,  having  come 
to  Montreal  with  two  deputies  of  Congress,  presented  a  letter  of 
introduction  from  Father  Farmer,  the  first  missionary  at  Philadel- 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  49 

pliia.  The  Seminary  saw  this  letter,  which  contained  nothing 
amiss.  Still  I  did  not  answer  it.  Father  Carroll  did  not  lodge 
with  me,  and  dined  with  me  but  once.  He  said  Mass  in  our 
house,  by  M.  Montgolfier's  permission. 

"  I  have  said  nothing,  written  nothing,  done  nothing  for  the 
service  of  Congress  or  the  United  Colonies.  I  received  nothing 
from  them  but  our  own  house  in  a  very  dilapidated  state."* 

Both  sought,  with  equal  good  faith,  the  advantage  of  religion ; 
but  the  maze  of  politics  made  it  very  difficult  to  see  what  was 
most  beneficial  to  the  Church,  either  at  the  moment  or  in  future. 
The  Bishop  of  Quebec  had  every  reason  to  distrust  a  nation  in 
revolt,  distinguished  till  then  only  for  its  hostility  to  Catholics. 
Father  Floquet  had  reason  to  fear  that  too  avowed  an  opposition 
to  the  Americans  might  draw  down  a  persecution  on  the  mission- 
aries in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  Father  John  CaiToU  was 
right  in  seeking  to  gain  the  neutrality  of  the  Canadians.  The 
most  curious  part  of  the  whole  affair  is,  to  see  the  American 
colonel  restoring  to  the  Jesuits  their  house  in  Montreal,  of  which 
the  English  governor  had  deprived  them,  and  inviting  the  rever- 
end fathers  to  dinner. 

That  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  had  no  motive  but  prudence,  we 
shall  see  hereafter,  when  we  speak  of  Father  Carroll's  elevation  to 
the  episcopacy. 

On  his  return  from  Canada,  Father  John  Carroll  (for  we  now 


*  Archives  of  the  Archbishopric  of  Quebec.  Of  this  clergyman,  Mr.  ITor- 
seux,  in  his  "  Abrege  Chronologique  et  historique  des  pretres  qui  ont  des- 
servi  le  Canada,"  says :  "  Father  Peter  R.  Floquet,  a  native  of  Chatillon  in 
Champagne,  arrived  at  Quebec  in  1740.  After  having  been  several  times 
Superior  of  the  Jesuits,  both  at  Montreal  and  at  Quebec,  he  was  recalled  to 
Quebec  in  Jan.  1777.  Having  written  a  very  touching  submission  to  the 
bishop  on  the  29th  of  November,  1776,  he  was  relieved  from  th.'.  Interdict. 
Having  become  blind  in  1779,  he  died  at  his  convent  on  the  ISth  of  Jnl^, 
1782,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven."  This  writer  is,  however,  «oo  inaccurate 
for  us  to  rely  entirely  on  his  dates  and  facte. 

3 


50  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

resume  his  history)  took  up  his  residence  with  his  mother  at  Roct 
Creek,  where  he  remained  during  the  rest  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  making  it  the  centre  of  a  vast  mission,  to  which  he  devoted 
himself  with  zeal.  His  mother's  advanced  age  made  him  loth  to 
leave  her,  and  rather  than  be  separated  from  her,  he  gave  up  his 
share  in  the  distribution  of  the  revenues  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in 
Maryland. 

We  have  remarked  that  the  Society  of  Jesus,  notwithstanding 
the  bull  of  dissolution  in  1773,  had  continued  to  act  in  Maryland 
under  their  constitutions.  Father  Le^vis  was  then  Superior,  and  re- 
cognized as  such  ;  but  whether  they  were  bound  to  obey  his  orders 
as  to  residence,  was  an  open  question.  Father  Carroll  thought 
not.  In  1779  he  wrote :  "I  have  care  of  a  very  large  congrega- 
tion— have  often  to  ride  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  to  the  sick ; 
besides  which,  I  go  once  a  month  between  fifty  and  sixty  miles  to 
another  congregation  in  Virginia ;  yet,  because  I  live  with  my 
mother,  for  whose  sake  alone  I  sacrificed  the  very  best  place  in 
England,  and  told  Mr.  Lewis  that  I  did  not  choose  to  be  subject 
to  be  removed  from  place  to  place,  now  that  we  had  no  longer 
the  vow  of  obedience  to  entitle  us  to  the  merit  of  it,  he  does  not 
choose  to  bear  any  part  of  my  expenses.  I  do  not  mention  thia 
by  way  of  complaint,  as  I  am  perfectly  easy  at  present."* 

In  another  letter,  of  February  20th,  1782,  to  his  friend  Father 
Plowden,  Father  Carroll  sets  forth  the  difficulties  which  this  pro- 
longed subjection  might  create :  "  The  clergymen  here  continue 
to  live  in  the  old  form ;  it  is  the  effect  of  habit,  and  if  they  could 
promise  themselves  immortality,  it  would  be  well  enough ;  but  1 
regret  that  indolence  prevents  any  form  of  administration  being 
adopted  which  might  tend  to  secure  posterity  a  succession  of 
Catholic  clergymen,  and  secure  to  them  a  comfortable  subsistence 
I  said  that  the  former  system  of  administration,  that  is,  '  every 

♦  Cited  by  Campbell  in  Ms  Life  of  Archbishop  CarrolL  U.  S.  Catholif 
Maj^azine,  ill.  365. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  51 

thing  being  in  the  power  of  a  Superior/  continued ;  but  all  those 
checks  upon  him,  so  wisely  provided  by  our  former  constitutions, 
are  at  an  end."* 

The  enemies  of  the  Jesuits  have  often  reproached  them  for  not 
dispersing  and  actually  persecuting  themselves,  on  learning  the 
Brief  of  Suppression.  To  believe  these  zealous  defenders  of  the 
rights  of  the  Holy  See,  fidelity  to  the  rule  of  St.  Ignatius,  when 
no  harm  resulted  to  the  Church,  was  a  contempt  of  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff.  To  these  severe  formalists, 
Father  Carroll's  conduct  will  seem  a  proof  of  orthodoxy ;  and  as 
to  the  friends  of  the  Society,  they  will  readily  admit  that  the  ab- 
solute authority  of  a  local  Superior  might  lead  to  serious  abuse, 
when  it  was  no  longer  controlled  by  that  of  the  General  and  by 
the  guarantees  with  which  the  constitutions  of  the  Society  have 
always  invested  each  member. 

The  life  of  Father  John  Carroll  has  few  traits  of  resemblance 
with  the  portraits  traced  by  some  historians,  and,  in  fact,  to  suc- 
ceed in  writing  any  thing  correct  as  to  the  history  of  the  Church 
in  the  United  States,  we  have  been  compelled  to  forget  what  little 
has  been  published  in  France  on  this  score,  and  confine  ourselvea 
to  such  materials  as  we  could  gather  in  the  United  States ;  other- 
wise we  should  merely  be  repeating  a  series  of  en-ors  confidently 
copied  by  one  after  another.f 

*  Id.  369. 

+  For  example,  Cretineau  Joly  says:  "At  the  moment  when  the  Society 
was  abolished  by  Clement  XIV.,  some  .Jesuits  abandoned  Great  Britain  to 
retire  to  North  America,  their  native  land,  where  there  never  had  been  any 
priests  but  themselves.  John  Carroll  was  their  leader.  Bound  to  the  Insti- 
tute by  the  profession  of  the  four  vows,  Carroll  soon  won  the  esteem  of  that 
immortal  generation  which  was  preparing  in  silence  the  freedom  of  the  land, 
lie  was  the  friend  of  Washington  and  Franklin,  the  counsel  of  that  Carroll, 
his  brother,  who  labored  so  efficaciously  in  forming  the  Constitution  of  the 
■»  nited  Stales.  The  learning  and  foresight  of  the  Jesuit  were  appreciated 
by  the  founders  of  American  liberty.  They  invited  him  to  sign  the  Act  ol 
Confederation.  Attached  to  the  Protestant  worship,  they  were  about  to 
eonsecrate  ita  triumph  by  law ;  out  Catholicity,  in  the  person  of  the  Fatheni 


52  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Even  Baron  Henrion  states  that  the  Maryland  clergy,  with  thti 
consent  of  Congress,  expressed  to  Pope  Pius  VI.  their  desire  to 
have  a  bishop  in  the  United  States,*  and  Rohrbacher  makes  Con- 
gress urge  the  Pope  to  gratify  their  wishes.f  Nothing  can  be 
further  from  the  real  state  of  affairs.  The  fact  is,  that  when  the 
independence  of  the  United  States  was  accomplished,  the  ex- 
Jesuits  in  Maryland  wished  to  be  no  longer  dependent  on  a  Vicar- 
apostolic  in  England,  in  order  to  give  no  umbrage  to  the  new 


of  the  Society,  appeared  to  them  so  tolerant  and  so  well  fitted  for  civilizing 
the  Indians,  tliat  they  could  not  refuse  John  Carroll  the  establishment  of 
the  principle  of  religious  independence.  Carroll  was  admitted  to  discuss  the 
basis  of  it  with  them.  He  laid  it  down  so  clearly,  that  freedom  of  worship 
has  never  been  infringed  in  the  United  States.  The  Americans  bound  them- 
selves to  maintain  it;  nor  did  they  feel  at  liberty  to  betray  their  oath,  even 
when  they  saw  the  extension  given  by  the  missionaries  to  the  Koman  faith." 
— Histoire  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus,  8d  ed.  vi.  276.  This  paragraph  con- 
tains almost  as  many  errors  as  words.  To  niake  the  Jesuits  the  only  priests 
in  North  America  is  strange  indeed,  when  it  is  not  true  even  of  Maryland. 
Father  Carroll  came  alone  and  brought  none  with  him.  He  was  not  a  per- 
sonal friend  of  Washington— at  least,  we  find  no  proof  of  his  ever  having 
been  intimate  with  him.  In  1800,  Carroll,  then  bishop  of  Baltimore,  de- 
livered a  funeral  oration  on  Washington,  but  nowhere  alludes,  as  he  would 
naturally  do,  to  any  personal  intimacy.  His  friendship  with  Franklin  was 
indeed  real,  but  it  is  an  error  to  make  him  a  signer  of  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation. Charles  Carroll  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
Daniel  Carroll,  a  brother  of  the  bishop,  signed  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Father  Carroll  could  not  have  spoken  before  the  Congress  or  the 
Convention  on  the  topic  of  religious  freedom,  for  it  was  not  raised,  is  not 
guaranteed  in  the  Constitution,  and  is  only  mentioned  in  the  amendments 
subsequently  adopted,  by  which  each  State  reserves  to  itself  the  right  *o 
legislate  on  the  point.  This  error  is  repeated  in  the  Annales  de  la  Propaga- 
tion de  la  Foi,  vol.  xxii.  p.  335.  W^hat  Mr.  Cretineau  Joly  means  by  saying 
that  Congress  was  about  to  consecrate  by  law  the  triumph  of  Protestantism, 
it  would  be  hard  to  say :  the  silence  of  the  Constitution  on  the  subject  haa 
destroyed  the  preponderance  of  Protestantism.  Congress  took  no  steps 
towards  civilizing  the  Indians,  and  could  not  have  made  that  a  motive  for 
any  step ;  and  as  to  tiie  assertion  that  liberty  of  worship  has  never  been  in- 
fringed iu  the  United  States,  we  deny  the  hardy  assertion  and  appeal  to 
history. 

*  Histoire  Generale  des  Missions  Catholiques,  ii.  662,  where  he  make» 
Carroll  Vicar-general  of  the  Vicar- Evpostolic  of  London. 

t  Kohrbacher,  Histoire  Uuiverselle  de  I'Eglise  Catholique,  xxvii  279. 


EST  THE   UNITED  STATES.  53 

political  organization  in  America.  They  accordingly  addressed  a 
memorial  to  the  Holy  See  on  the  6th  of  November,  1783,  to  so- 
licit  the  nomination  of  a  Superior  in  spiritualibus,  to  be  chosen 
from  among  themselves.  But  far  from  asking  the  erection  of  a 
See  at  Baltimore,  the  Maryland  missionaries  thought  it  not  desira- 
ble for  the  interests  of  the  Church,  and  we  may  even  say  that 
they  dreaded  the  sending  of  a  Vicar-apostolic. 

In  connection  with  this  subject,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  Cardinal  of  York  then  exercised  at  Rome  an  often  preponder- 
ating influence  in  the  choice  of  Vicars-apostohc  for  England. 
The  high  birth  of  the  royal  cardinal  enabled  him  indeed  to  exer- 
cise a  great  control  in  the  religious  affairs  of  the  three  kingdoms ; 
and  his  hostility  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  which  had  led  him  to 
seize  their  house  at  Frascati  the  very  day  after  their  suppression, 
was  a  secret  to  none.  The  Vicars-apostolic  in  England  named 
in  such  circumstances  had  frequent  disputes  with  the  ex-Jesuits  in 
England.  Those  in  Maryland  might  reasonably  fear  that  the  arrival 
of  a  prelate,  a  creature,  in  all  probability,  of  the  Cardinal  of  York, 
would  only  bring  trouble  and  confusion.  Besides  this,  the  pov- 
erty of  their  missions,  and  the  petty  number  of  American  Catho 
Hcs,  made  them  believe  the  faithful  unable  to  support  a  bishop 
with  dignity.  They  wished  first  to  recruit  a  more  numerous 
clergy,  in  order  to  provide  the  scattered  Catholics  with  pastors, 
now  that  their  religious  worship  was  no  longer  proscribed. 

The  number  of  Catholics  in  1783  might  amount  in  Maryland 
to  sixteen  thousand  souls,  chiefly  farmers  and  planters  in  the 
rural  districts.  In  Pennsylvania  there  were  about  seven  thousand, 
and  in  the  other  States  about  fifteen  hundred.*  This  computa 
tion  did  not  include  the  French  Canadians  in  the  countjy  on  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi,  which  had  been  surrendered  to  the  United 
States  by  the  treaty  of  1783.     The  white  inhabitants  of  tliis  ter- 

*  Thiii  is  Bishop  Carroll's  calculation.    See  Biographical  Sketch,  p.  70, 


54:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

ritory  were  all  Catholics,  and  amounted  probably  to  four  tliou« 
Band ;  but  they  were  still  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of 
Quebec,  and  the  Maryland  missionaries  had  no  connection  with 
them.  The  march  of  Rochambeau's  army  through  several  States, 
where  Mass  had  never  before  been  said,  brought  to  light  Catho- 
lics in  many  places  where  they  were  not  known  to  exist ;  and  the 
army  chaplains  were  often  surrounded  by  the  descendants  of 
Irishmen  or  Acadians,  who  now  saw  a  priest  for  the  first  time, 
and  implored  them  to  stay.*  It  became  urgent  to  furnish  spir- 
itual succor  to  these  forsaken  Catholics. 


CEAPTER  V. 

THE    CHURCH    IN   THE    REPUBLIC. 

Maryland  (17T6-1790)— Negotlatlonfl  for  the  erection  of  an  Episcop- J  See. 

Father  Lewis,  Vicar-general  of  Maryland,  called  i  general 
meeting  of  all  the  missionaries  to  deliberate  on  the  state  of  reli- 
gion, and  two  meetings  for  this  purpose  were  held  at  Whitemarsh 
on  the  27th  of  June  and  6th  of  November,  1783.  It  was  at  the 
latter  meeting  that  the  memorial  to  the  Sacred  Congregation  "  de 
propaganda  fide,"  already  mentioned,  was  signed.     A  committee 

*  One  of  these  chaplains  wrote  an  account  of  his  travels:  "  Nonveau 
Voyagj  dans  I'Amerique  Septentrionale  en  1781  et  caLnpagne  de  Farmie  du 
Comte  de  Rochambeau,  par  1' Abbe  Robin,  Philadelphie  et  Paris,  1 782."  The 
author  shows  himself  unfortunately  imbued  Avith  some  of  the  philosophical 
ideas  of  the  time,  and  instead  of  displaying  zeal  for  the  deftitute  Catholics, 
indulges  in  a  dull  enthusiasm  for  the  Revolution.  We  had  expect^.d  to  find 
in  this  rare  work  some  interesting  details,  but  meet  only  superficial  observa- 
tions. He  officiated  at  Baltimore  to  the  great  joy,  he  says,  of  the  Acadiaui 
Jierq,  then  chiefly  sailors. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  55 

war  al.'o  appointed  to  draw  up  a  regulation  "  to  establish  a  forni 
of  pfovsrnment  for  the  clergy,  and  lay  down  rules  for  the  adminis- 
tration and  government  of  their  property."  This  regulation,  in 
eighteen  articles,  adopted  by  the  missionaiies  on  the  11th  of  Oc- 
tober, 17&4,  established  a  general  chapter  and  district  chapters, 
appointed  a  Procurator  distinct  from  the  Superior  in  spiritualibus, 
subjecting  the  latter's  measures  to  the  approval  of  the  district 
chapters.  These  arrangements,  taken  without  any  canonical  au- 
thority, could  of  course  be  only  provisional,  and  Father  Farmer, 
one  of  the  ■nissionaries,  thus  speaks  of  them  in  a  letter  to  Fatlier 
Carroll,  on  the  19th  of  January,  1785  : 

"  I  cannot  conceive  how  we  could  be  a  body  without  a  bishop 
for  a  head.  We  may  have  a  voluntary  union  among  ourselves,  I 
allow,  but  it  cannot  constitute  us  a  canonical  body  of  clergy,  un- 
less declared  and  appointed  as  such  either  by  the  Supreme  Pas- 
tor, or  rather  by  a  bishop  set  over  us  by  him.  Our  association, 
even  in  temporalibus,  I  am  afraid,  will  be  looked  upon  rather  aa 
a  combination."* 

It  was  evident  that  some  germs  of  independence  were  develop- 
ing in  the  Maryland  clergy,  in  contact  with  the  spirit  of  political 
and  religious  rebellion  which  forms  the  basis  of  the  American 
character.  But  the  Holy  See  watched  with  paternal  solicitude 
over  the  rising  Church  of  America,  and  on  beholding  the  princi- 
ples of  toleration  for  Catholicity,  which  Protestantism  now  first 
acknowledged  in  the  United  States,  Rome  at  once  saw  the  pre- 
cious advantage  to  be  gained  for  religion.  The  Holy  See  imme- 
diately thought  of  estabhshing  the  Church  in  Maryland  on  a 
more  independent  base,  and  of  releasing  it  from  all  spiritual 
Bubordination  to  England.  It  thus  anticipated  the  wishes  of  the 
missionaries  assembled  at  Whitemarsh ;  and  at  the  same  time, 
showing  a  sincere  deference  for  the  government  of  the  United 


56  THE  CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

States,  transmitted  tliroiigli  Monseigneur  Doria,  archbishop  of  Se- 
leucia  and  nuncio  at  the  court  of  Paris,  the  following  note  to  Dr, 
Franklin,  then  American  minister  at  Paris : 

"The   Nuncio-apostolic  has  the  honor   to   transmit  to  Mr, 
Franklin  the  subjoined  note.     He  requests  him  to  cause  it  to  be 
presented  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  North  America, 
and  to  support  it  with  his  influence. 
"  July  28,  1783." 

I»^OTE. — "  Previous  to  the  revolution  which  has  just  beon  com- 
pleted in  the  United  States  of  North  America,  the  Catholics  and 
missionaries  of  those  provinces  depended,  in  spiritual  matters,  on 
the  Vicar-apostolic  residing  in  London.  It  is  now  e\dder.t  that 
this  arrangement  can  be  no  longer  maintained  ;  but,  as  it  is  ne- 
cessary that  the  Catholic  Christians  of  the  United  States  should 
have  an  ecclesiastic  to  govern  them  in  matters  pertaining  to  reli 
gion,  the  Congregation  "  de  propaganda  fide,"  existing  at  Rome, 
for  the  establishment  and  preservation  of  missions,  have  come  to 
the  determination  to  pro}X)se  to  Congress  to  establish  in  one  of 
the  cities  of  the  United  States  of  North  America  one  of  their 
Catholic  brethren,  with  the  authority  and  power  of  Vicar-apos- 
tolic, and  the  dignity  of  Bishop;  or  simply  with  the  rank  of 
Apostolical  Prefect.  The  institution  of  a  Bishop  Vicar-apostolic 
appears  the  most  suitable,  insomuch  as  the  Catholics  of  the 
United  States  may  have  within  their  reach  the  reception  of  con- 
firmation and  orders  in  their  own  country.  And  as  it  may  some- 
times happen  that  among  the  members  of  the  Catholic  body  in 
the  United  States,  no  one  may  be  found  qualified  to  undertake  the 
charge  of  the  spiritual  government,  either  as  Bishop  or  Prefect- 
apostolic,  it  may  be  necessary,  under  such  circumstances,  that 
Congress  should  consent  to  have  one  selected  from  some  foreign 
nation  on  close  terms  of  friendship  with  the  United  States." 

The  Maryland  rdssionaries  learned  this  project  through  their 


IN   THE    UNI'JED   STATES.  57 

'.gent  at  Rome,  Father  John  Thorpe,  an  English  ex-Jesuit,  v^hc 
resided  there  from  1756  till  his  death  in  1792.  They  also  learnej 
the  action  of  Congress  on  the  Nuncio's  note,  and,  still  believino 
that  the  time  had  not  come  for  a  bishop  in  the  United  States, 
took,  in  October,  1784,  the  following  curious  resolution: 

"It  is  the  opinion  of  a  majority  of  the  chapter,  that  a  Superior 
in  spiriiualibus,  with  powers  to  give  col  firmation,  grant  faculti  as, 
dispensations,  bless  oils,  etc.,  is  adequate  to  the  present  exigencies 
of  religion  in  this  country.     Resolved,  therefore, 

"  1st.  That  a  bishop  is  at  present  unnecessary. 

"  2d.  That  if  one  be  sent,  it  is  decided  by  the  majority  of  the 
chapter,  that  he  shall  not  be  entitled  to  any  support  from  the 
present  estates  of  the  clergy. 

"  3d.  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  prepare  and 
give  an  answer  to  Rome,  conformable  to  the  above  resolution. 

"  4th.  That  the  best  measures  be  taken  to  bring  in  six  proper 
clergymen  as  soon  as  possible,  and  the  means  be  furnished  by  the 
chapter  out  of  the  general  fund,  except  when  otherwise  provided." 

The  letter  to  the  Holy  Father  was  prepared  and  signed,  on  be- 
half of  his  associates,  by  Father  Bernard  Diderick,  who  transmitted 
it  to  Father  Thorpe  at  Rome.  The  latter  had  the  good  sense  not 
to  deliver  it,  and  the  Holy  See  could  thus  officially  ignore  a  hasty 
and  inconsiderate  step.  Dissatisfaction  at  not  having  been  con- 
sulted by  the  Propaganda  doubtless  caused  this  resolution  of  the 
chapter,  but  the  Court  of  Rome  never  intended  to  offend  the 
zealous  missionaries  of  Maryland,  whose  labors  it  highly  appreci- 
ated. Their  advice  had  even  been  sought,  and  as  early  as  May 
12,  1784,  seven  months  before  the  Whitcmarsh  resolutions,  the 
Apostolic  Nuncio  at  Paris  wrote  to  Father  John  Carroll : 

"  The  ii-terests  of  religion,  sir,  requiring  new  arrangements 
relative  to  the  missions  in  the  United  States  of  North  America, 
the  Congregation  of  the  Propaganda  direct  me  to  request  from 

3* 


58  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

you  a  full  statement  of  the  actual  condition  of  tho^  missions.  Ir 
the  mean  time,  I  beg  that  you  will  inform  me  what  number  ol 
missionaries  may  be  necessary  to  serve  them  and  fuin'sh  spiritual 
aid  to  Catholic  Christians  in  the  United  States ;  in  what  j-rovin- 
ces  there  are  Cathohcs,  and  where  is  the  greatest  number  of  them  ; 
and  lastly,  if  there  are,  among  the  natives  of  the  country,  fit  sub- 
»ccts  to  receive  holy  orders  and  exercise  the  function  of  missiona- 
ries. You  will  greatly  oblige  me  personally  by  the  attention  and 
industry  w^hich  you  will  exercise  in  procuring  for  me  this  infor- 
mation. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  esteem  and  consideration,  sir, 
your  veiy  humble  and  obedient  servant, 

"  I  J.,  Archbishog  of  Seleucia, 

"  ApostoHcal  Nuncio." 

This  letter,  in  consequence  of  the  vicissitudes  of  navigation, 
reached  Father  Carroll  only  in  November.  Monseigneur  Doria, 
Nuncio  at  Paris,  had  added  a  memorandum  of  questions,  from 
which  we  extract  two  : 

"  1.  AYho  among  the  missionaries  might  be  the  most  worthy, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  agreeable  to  the  members  of  the  assembly 
of  those  provinces,  to  be  invested  with  the  charactei*  of  Bishop  in 
partibus,  and  the  quality  of  Vicar-apostolic  ? 

"  2.  If  among  these  ecclesiastics  there  is  a  native  of  the  coun- 
try, and  he  should  be  among  the  most  worthy,  he  should  be  pre- 
ferred to  all  others  of  equal  merit.  Otherwise  choice  should  be 
made  of  one  from  some  other  nation.  In  default  of  a  missionary 
actually  residing  in  those  provinces,  a  Frenchman  will  be  nomi- 
nated, who  will  go  to  establish  himself  in  America."* 

But  the  Holy  See,  in  its  admirable  prudence,  understanding 
that  the  negotiations  for  the  establishment  of  a  bishop  would  re- 

*  U.  S.  CatLolic  Map^azine,  :Ii,  378. 


IN   THE   UNITED    STATES.  59 

quire  time,  resolved  in  the  interim  to  give  Maryland  a  provisional 
ecclesiastical  organization ;  and  the  Propaganda,  yielding  to  the 
wish  expressed  in  the  first  memorial  of  the  American  missionaries, 
named  Carroll  Superior  of  the  mission,  with  extended  powers,  and 
exerrpted  Maryland  from  all  dependence  on  the  Vicariate  Apos- 
tolic of  London.  This  choice  shows  that  Rome  already  thought 
of  tha  same  Father  as  one  proper  to  raise  to  the  Episcopal  dig- 
nity, -md  of  this  we  have  a  proof  in  Thorpe's  letter  to  Carroll, 
dated  at  Rome,  June  9,  1784  : 

"  Dear  Sir  : — This  evening  ample  faculties  are  sent  by  the 
Congregation  of  the  Propaganda,  empowering  you  to  confer  the 
sacrament  of  confirmation,  bless  oils,  etc.,  until  such  time  as  the 
necessaiy  information  shall  be  taken  in  North  America  and  sent 
hither,  for  promoting  you  to  the  dignity  and  character  of  a  bishop. 
On  their  arrival  here  you  will  be  accordingly  so  nominated  by  the 
Pope,  and  the  place  determined  for  your  consecration.  Cardinal 
Borromeo  sent  for  me  to  give  me  this  intelligence,  on  the  veracity 
of  which  you  may  entirely  depend,  though  you  should  not,  from 
any  mistake,  have  received  it  from  other  hands.  When  the  Nun- 
cio, M.  Doria,  at  Paris,  applied  to  Mr.  Franklin,  the  old  gentle- 
man remembered  you;  he  had  his  memory  refreshed  before, 
though  you  had  modestly  put  your  own  name  in  the  last  place  oi 
the  list.  I  heartily  congratulate  your  country  for  having  obtained 
so  worthy  a  pastor.  Whatever  I  can  ever  be  able  to  do  in  serv- 
ing your  zeal  for  religion  shall  always  be  at  your  command. 

"  I  am  ever  most  aftectionately  and  most  respectfully  yours, 

J.  Thorpe."* 

It  is  curious  to  see  in  Franklin's  memoirs  the  influence  of  thia 
philosopher  in  an  event  so  important  to  the  Church,  and  we  shall 

*  U.  S.  Cf  tLolic  Magazine,,  iii.  §79. 


60  THE   CATnOLIC   CHURCH 

be  excused  for  transferring  the  following  page,  which  :yelo^.o^  tc 
the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States : 

"1784,  July  1st. — The  Pope's  Nuncio  called,  and  acquainted 
me  that  the  Pope  had,  on  my  recommendation,  appointed  Mr. 
John  CaiToU  Superior  of  the  Catholic  clergy  in  America,  with 
many  of  the  powers  of  a  bishop,  and  that  probably  he  wo  aid  be 
made  a  bishop  m  2Mrtibus  before  the  end  of  the  year.  He  asked 
which  would  be  most  convenient  for  him — ^to  come  to  France,  or 
to  go  to  St.  Domingo  for  ordination  by  another  bishop,  which 
was  necessary.  I  mentioned  Quebec  as  more  convenient  than 
either.  He  asked  whether,  as  that  was  an  English  province,  our 
government  might  not  take  offence  at  his  going  thither.  I 
thought  not,  unless  the  ordination  by  that  bishop  should  give 
him  some  authority  over  our  bishop.  He  said  not  in  the  least ; 
that  when  our  bishop  was  once  ordained,  he  would  be  indepen- 
dent of  the  other,  and  even  of  the  Pope,  which  I  did  not  clearly 
understand.  He  said  the  Congregation  "de  propaganda  fide" 
had  agreed  to  receive  and  maintain  and  instruct  two  young 
Americans  in  the  languages  and  sciences  at  Rome.  He  had  for- 
merly told  me  that  more  would  be  educated  gratis  in  France. 
He  added,  they  had  written  from  America  that  there  are  twenty 
priests,  but  that  they  are  not  sufficient,  as  the  new  settlements 
near  the  Mississippi  have  need  of  some. 

"  The  Nuncio  said  we  should  find  that  the  Catholics  were  not 
so  intolerant  as  they  had  been  represented ;  that  the  Inquisition 
in  Rome  had  not  now  so  much  power  as  that  in  Spain  ;  and  that 
in  Spain  it  was  used  chiefly  as  a  prison  of  state ;  that  the  Con- 
gregation would  have  undertaken  the  education  of  more  American 
youths,  and  may  hereafter,  but  that  at  present  they  are  overbur- 
dened, having  some  fi'om  all  parts  of  the  world."* 

franklin  communicated  to  Congi-ess  the  projects  of  the  Court 

*  Sparks'  Life  and  Writings  of  Franklin,  i.  58.     Cited  by  Campbell. 


m   THE    UNITED   STATES.  61 

of  Rome,  and  received  an  ans^ver  to  the  effect  that  the  Federal 
government  had  no  opinion  to  express  on  a  question  not  in  its 
jurisdiction.  Kehgious  affairs  were  under  the  control  of  the  sev- 
eral States.  This  was  at  least  showing  the  absence  of  all  opposi- 
tion to  9  Catholic  hierarchy  ;  and  if  Protestant  fanaticism  did  not 
attempt  to  excite  the  people  and  iriitate  religious  passions,  it  was 
because  France  was  too  necessary  an  ally  to  permit  any  insult  to 
the  religious  feelings  of  Louis  XVI.  That  monarch,  it  was 
known,  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  spread  of  Catholicity  in 
America,  and  France  may  thus  claim  the  glory  of  having  given 
its  powerful  aid  to  the  Holy  See  in  founding  the  American  Epis- 
copate. 

We  have  gone  at  some  length  into  these  little  known  negotia- 
tions, because  we  know  nothing  better  fitted  to  inspire  confidence 
and  esteem  for  the  tutelary  authority  of  the  Sovereign  Pontificate. 
The  Maryland  missionaries  believe  it  to  be  for  the  interest  of  re- 
ligion that  the  United  States  should  be  erected  into  a  Church  in- 
dependent of  England.  Rome  anticipates  their  desires,  and  her 
paternal  soHcitude,  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  discovers  the 
wants  of  remote  churches,  even  before  the  latter  express  them. 
The  missionaries  fear  lest  some  hostile  influence  should  disregard 
their  rights  or  compromise  the  fruit  of  their  labors.  The  Holy 
See  kindly  hears  their  representations,  well  founded  at  times,  and 
far  from  being  swayed  by  any  party,  religious  or  pohtical,  tries 
above  all  to  secure  the  permanent  interests  of  religion  in  a  coun- 
try whose  government,  laws,  and  institutions,  so  different  from 
those  of  Europe,  were  then  but  imperfectly  understood.  Hence 
the  prudent  precaution  to  obtain  the  approval,  or  at  least  the  neu- 
trality of  Congi'ess,  and  the  eagerness  to  choose  a  person  named 
by  the  representative  of  the  United  States  at  Paris.  The  Mary- 
land clergy  desire  that  the  Superior  should  be  taken  from  among 
them,  and  Rome  at  once  concedes  it.  They  see  no  immediate 
opportunity  for  the  appointment  of  a  bishop.     Rome  consents  to 


62  THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

postpone  its  projects,  the  wisdom  cf  which  is  now  so  palpable,  in- 
asmuch as  the  great  progress  of  religion  in  the  United  State3 
can,  as  all  admit,  be  attributed  only  to  the  foundation  of  the 
Episcopate.  But  when  the  missionaries  see  that  Rome  is  un- 
changeable, they  represent  that,  in  order  not  to  excite  faaaticism, 
the  creation  of  a  titular  bishop,  enjoying  all  his  rights,  would  suit 
America  better  than  a  Vicar-apostolic,  whose  immediate  depend- 
ency on  the  Congregation  "  de  propaganda  fide"  would  seem  to 
constitute  a  sort  of  religious  servitude.  The  Holy  See  welcomed 
this,  too,  and  thus  this  question  of  titular  bishops,  which  has  been 
so  misunderstood  in  England,  and  considered  by  the  partisans  of 
the  established  Church  as  augmenting  the  direct  authority  of  the 
See  of  Rome,  this  question,  more  justly  appreciated  in  America, 
was  presented  as  a  means  of  reconciling  nice  republican  suscepti- 
bility to  the  foundation  of  a  Catholic  hierarchy.  Rome  went 
further  in  order  to  prove  to  the  worthy  American  missionaries 
her  affection  and  appreciation  of  their  zeal  and  labors.  When  in 
fact  they  appreciated  the  \news  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  they  re- 
ceived an  authorization  to  proceed  themselves  to  the  election  of  a 
bishop,  to  be  submitted  to  the  Court  of  Rome,  as  Fathar  Carroll 
recounts  in  these  terms,  in  a  letter  of  1789  :* 

"  In  the  middle  of  last  month,  I  received  a  letter  from  Cardinal 
Antonelli,  dated  in  July  last,  in  which  he  informs  me  that  his 
Holiness  has  granted  our  request  for  an  ordinary  bishop,  whose 
See  is  to  be  fixed  by  ourselves,  and  the  choice  made  by  the  oflSci- 
ating  priests.  We  are  going  to  take  the  affair  up  immediately^ 
and  God  will,  I  hope,  direct  us  to  make  a  good  choice.     This 

*  Pius  VI.  had  appointed  a  committee  of  cardinals  of  the  Congregation 
"de  propaganda  fide"  to  examine  this  affair  ;  and  on  the  12th  of  July,  1789, 
a  decree  was  approved  by  the  Pope,  directing  all  the  priests  exercising  the 
ministry  in  the  United  -States  to  assembb  and  determine  in  what  city  the  See 
should  be,  and  who  of  themselves  seemed  most  worthy  to  be  raised  to  the 
Episc;pacy— a  privilege  granted  as  a  favor,  and  for  that  t-me  only.  (Eohr 
baoher,  xxvii.  279.) 


IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.  6S 

trust  is  my  consolation.     Otherwise  I  should  be  full  of  apprehen- 
sion to  see  the  choice  fall  where  it  might  be  fatal." 

This  expression  shows  that  Father  Carroll  dreaded  to  see  him- 
self chosen  for  the  eminent  post  to  which  his  high  merit,  and  the 
success  with  which  he  had  for  five  years  administered  the  mis- 
sions as  Superior  or  Prefect-apostolic,  called  him.  In  fjict,  the 
election  took  place  in  May,  1789,  and  Father  Carroll  being  cho- 
sen Bishop  of  Baltimore,  the  choice  was  ratified  at  Rome  on  the 
6th  of  November  in  that  year. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


DIOCESE    OF    BALTIMORE. 


Consecration  of  Bishop  Carroll— Jesuit  college  at  Georgetown— Sulpitian  seminary  at 
Baltimore— The  French  clergy  in  the  United  States— Bishop  Neale  coadjutor— Reor- 
ganization of  the  Society  of  Jesus— Importance  of  French  immigration. 

On  the  6th  of  November,  1789,  Pope  Pius  VI.  founded  the 
Episcopal  See  of  Baltimore,  instituting  Father  John  Carroll  as  first 
bishop ;  and  thus,  at  the  moment  when  the  revolution  preluded  the 
tempest  which  was  for  a  time  to  engulf  the  Church  of  France,  Provi- 
dence raised  up  ley  end  the  ocean  another  Church,  where  the  noble 
exiles  of  the  priesthood  w^ere  to  find  a  hospitable  refuge.  The 
new  prelate  no  sooner  received  the  Bulls  from  the  Sovereign  Pon- 
tiff than  he  proceeded  to  England  to  be  consecrated.  The  pious 
Thomas  Weld  wished  the  ceremony  to  take  place  in  his  castle  of 
Lulworth,  and  that  ancient  pile,  honored  in  our  day  by  the  pres- 
ence of  the  exiled  king,  Charles  X.,  is  identified  with  the  origin 
of  the  Episcopacy  in  the  United  States.  The  consecration  took 
place  in  the  colhge  chapel  on  Sunday,  August  15th,  1790;  and 


64:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

in  remembrance  of  tliat  day,  Bishop  Carroll  chose  the  feast  of 
the  Assumption  as  the  patronal  feast  of  his  vast  diocese.  The 
sermon  was  delivered  by  Father  Charles  Plowden,  and  the  conse- 
crating prelate  was  the  learned  and  scientific  Bishop  Walmsley, 
the  Dean  of  the  Vicars-apostolic  in  England.  Bishop  Carroll  le- 
embarked  for  Baltimore  the  following  October,  and  by  a  curious 
coincidence  he  was,  both  going  and  coming,  a  fellow-voyager  of 
Mr.  Kadison,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Virginia,  who 
had  also  been  to  England  to  obtain  Episcopal  institution.  Mr. 
Madison  conceived  a  high  esteem  for  the  Catholic  prelate,  and 
maintained  it  during  the  rest  of  his  life. 

The  Bishop  of  Baltimore  zealously  undertook  four  enterprises  es- 
sential to  the  religious  prospects  of  the  United  States — the  Catholic 
education  of  youth,  the  formation  of  a  national  clergy,  the  erection 
of  churches,  the  foundation  of  female  communities  to  take  care  of 
the  sick  and  orphans.  The  first  of  these  works  was  the  most  urgent, 
for  it  was  imperative  to  furnish  Catholic  youth  a  Catholic  educa- 
tion at  home,  in  order  to  preserve  them  from  the  dangers  of  Pro- 
testant schools.  As  early  as  1788,  Bishop  Carroll,  then  only 
Vicar-general,  had  begun  the  erection  of  Georgetown  College,  and 
the  ex-Jesuits  employed  a  part  of  the  Society's  property  for  the 
creation  of  that  useful  establishment.  The  Jesuits  were  at  fii'st 
too  few  to  perform  at  once  the  functions  of  missionary  priests  and 
those  of  teachers ;  they  called  to  ths^r  aid  at  Georgetown  priests 
of  other  societies.  Thus  the  Reverend  Louis  Dubourg,  a  Sulpitian 
and  eventually  Bishop  of  New  Orleans,  was  President  of  tae  col- 
lego  in  1*796,  and  another  Sulpitian,  Ambrose  Marechal,  Profe.>sor 
of  Philosophy  in  1799.  But  even  before  the  restoration  of  the 
Society  in  1814,  the  disciples  of  St.  Ignatius  had  the  exclusive 
direction  of  the  noble  college  which  for  the  last  siAty-five  years 
has  brought  up  generations  in  science  and  letters.  By  a  happy 
tarn  of  alTairs  which  contributed  to  givv3  a  considerable  impoi-t- 
ance  to  Georgetown,  the  site  of  the  federal  city  :f  V^ashington 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  G5 

was  chosen  scarce  a  league  from  the  college,  so  that  the  Jesuits 
found  themselves  stationed  at  the  very  gates  of  the  capitol.*  In 
1815  Cous^ress  invested  this  college  with  the  privileges  of  a  uni- 
versity, and  this  foundation  of  Bishop  Carroll  remains  cne  of  his 
gi-eatest  titles  to  fame. 

The  Bishop  of  Baltimore  had  at  first  intended  to  open  a  semi- 
nary also  at  Georgetown ;  but  during  a  visit  to  England,  he  en- 
tered into  correspondence  with  Mr.  Emery,  Superior-general  of 
the  Society  of  St.  Sulpice,  whose  wise  foresight  then  sought  to 
shelter  his  Society  fi'om  the  storaas  of  the  revolution.  When 
Mr.  Emery  saw  the  National  Assembly  of  France  threaten  with 
destruction  all  the  religious  institutions  of  that  country,  he  re- 
solved to  prepare  a  refuge,  that  St.  Sulpice  might  be  preserved 
from  total  extinction,  in  case  it  should  be  suppressed  at  Paris. 
He  accordingly  sent  his  assistant,  Mr.  Nagot,  to  London,  and 
we  may  easily  conceive  how  eagerly  Bishop  Carroll  welcomed 
his  overtures,  from  the  following  letter  of  September  25th, 
1790: 

"  Providence  seems  to  favor  our  \aews.  In  consequence  of  a 
previous  correspondence  between  the  Nuncio  at  Paris  and  Mr. 
Emery,  Superior-general  of  St.  Sulpice,  on  the  one  hand,  and  my- 
self on  the  other,  Mr.  Nagot,  Superior  du  Petit  Seminaire  de  St. 
Sulpice,  has  been  here.  We  have  settled  that  two  or  three  gen- 
tlemen selected  by  Mr.  Emery  shall  come  over  to  Baltimore  next 
spring.  They  are  furnished  with  the  means  of  purchasing  ground 
for  buildings,  and,  I  hope,  of  endowing  a  seminary  for  young 
ecclesiastics.  I  believe  they  will  bring  three  or  four  seminarians 
with  them,  who  are  either  English,  or  know  it.     They  will  be 


*  Cretineau  Joly  (vi.  363)  says  that  Georgetown  College  was  founded 
ftlmost  at  the  gates  of  Washington.  Just  the  reverse.  The  college  was 
opened  in  1791,  Washington  created  in  1792. 


66  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

amply  provided  with  books,  apparatus  for  the  aUar,  charch,  etc.^« 
professors  of  philosophy  and  di\nnity.  I  propose  fixing  these 
\rery  near  to  my  own  home,  the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore,  that  they 
may  be,  as  it  were,  the  clergy  of  the  church,  and  contribute  to 
the  dignity  of  divine  worship.  This  is  a  great  and  auspicious 
event  for  our  diocese,  but  it  is  a  melancholy  reflection  that 
we  owe  so  great  a  blessing  to  the  lamentable  catastrophe  in 
France."* 

Mr.  Nagot  returned  to  Paris  to  put  the  plan  in  execution,  but 
the  Sulpitians  experienced  great  difficulties  in  realizing  a  part  of 
their  property  and  in  sailing  for  America,  in  consequence  of  the 
political  convulsions  of  that  wretched  period.  They  were  power- 
fully aided,  especially  in  the  transfer  of  the  funds,  by  Governeur 
Morris,  American  ambassador  at  Paris  ;  and  at  last,  on  the  8th 
of  April,  1791,  Mr.  F.  C.  Nagot,  Superior,  embarked  at  St.  Malo, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Levadoux,  Procurator,  Messrs.  John  Tessier 
and  Anthony  Gamier,  Professors  of  Theology,  and  Mr.  Delavan, 
a  Canon  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours.f  They  had  with  them  five  semi- 
narians, and  lastly,  a  fellow-voyager  of  quite  a  different  stamp, 
the  young  Francis  de  Chateaubriand,  then  on  his  way  to  America 
in  pursuit  of  one  of  his  first  chimeras,  the  northwest  passage. 
We  have  examined  his  Memoires  d'Outre  Tombe,  to  see  what  he 
might  have  said  of  this  voyage  undertaken  in  such  holy  com- 
pany, and  the  reflections  which  it  inspired  seem  to  us  not  out  oi 
place : 

"  I  chose  St.  Malo  to  embark,  and  struck  a  bargain  with  a  cap- 


*  Brent's  Sketch  of  Bishop  Carroll,  125. 

t  According  to  a  manuscript  of  the  Abbe  Dillet,  preserved  at  the  seminary 
in  Baltimore,  the  idea  of  transferring  the  Society  of  St.  Sulpice  out  of  France 
was  suggested  to  Mr.  Emery  by  Mr.  de  St.  Felix,  Superior  of  the  Seminary 
of  Tours.  On  the  closing  of  the  Seminary  of  Orleans,  Mr.  Chicoisneau,  the 
Superior,  wished  to  emigrate  to  America  with  several  other  Sulpitian  pro- 
fessors, but  they  were  unable  to  do  so,  though  Mr.  Chicoisneau  subsequently 
came  to  the  United  States,  and  resided  for  a  time  at  Baltimore. 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  67 

tain  named  Desjardins.  He  was  to  caiTy  to  Baltimoro  the  Abbe 
Na^ot,  Superior  of  St.  Sulpice,  and  several  seminarians  under  tlib 
guidance  of  their  chief.  These  travelling  companions  would  have 
suited  me  better  four  years  before.  I  had  been  a  zealous  Chris- 
tian, but  had  become  a  *  strong  mind' — that  is,  a  '  weak  mind.' 
This  change  in  my  religious  opinions  had  been  effected  by  the 
reading  of  the  philosophers  of  the  day.  I  sincerely  believed  that 
a  religious  mind  was  paralyzed  on  one  side;  that  there  were 
truths  which  could  not  reach  it,  superior  as  it  might  otherwise 
be.  I  supposed  in  the  religious  mind  the  absence  of  a  faculty 
found  especially  in  the  philosophic  mind.  A  purblind  man  thinks 
he  sees  all  because  he  has  his  eyes  open ;  a  superior  mind  is  con- 
tent to  close  its  eyes  because  it  perceives  all  within. 

"Among  my  fellow-voyagers  was  an  Englishman.  Francis 
Tallok  had  served  in  the  artillery.  Painter,  musician,  mathema- 
tician, he  spoke  several  languages.  The  Abbe  Nagot,  having 
met  the  English  officer,  made  a  CathoHc  of  him,  and  was  taking 
his  convert  to  Baltimore."* 

After  a  painful  voyage  of  three  months,  stopping  at  the  Azores, 
St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon,  Nagot  and  his  companions  reached  Bal- 
timore. 

Bishop  Carroll  was  then  on  a  pastoral  \Tisit  at  Boston,  when 
Mr.  Nagot  and  his  companions  arrived,  but  on  his  return  he 
gave  them  a  most  cordial  welcome,  as  we  may  see  by  the  follow- 
ing letter  of  the  prelate,  wiitten  in  September  following : 

"  When  I  returned  from  Boston,  in  July,  I  had  the  happiness 
of  finding  here  M.  Nagot  with  his  company  from  St.  Sulpice ; 
himself  and  three  other  priests  belonging  to  the  establishment, 

*  Meraoires  d'Outre  Tombe,  par  Chateaubriand.  Francis  Charles  Nagot, 
born  at  Tours  in  1734,  was  long  Director  of  the  Petit  Seminaire  of  ^t. 
Sulpice,  and  also  Director  of  the  Grand  Seminaire.  Of  his  importarvt  ser- 
vices to  the  American  Church  we  shall  speak  more  at  length  hereafior,  iq 
coimection  with  St.  Mary's  College  and  Seminary,  of  both  of  which  ho  maj 
be  considered  the  founder. 


68  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

viz.,  a  procurator  and  two  professors,  and  five  seminarians.* 
They  will  be  joined  soon  by  one  or  two  natives  of  this  country. 
These  now,  with  Mr.  Delavan,  a  worthy  French  priest,  form  the 
clergy  of  my  cathedral  (a  paltry  cathedral)  and  attract  a  great 
concourse  of  all  denominations,  by  the  decency  and  exactness 
-with  which  they  perform  all  parts  of  divine  ser^nce. 

"  If  in  many  instances  the  French  Revolution  has  been  fatal  to 
religion,  this  country  promises  to  derive  advantage  from  it."f 

Mr.  Nagot  immediately  bought  an  inn,  with  four  acres  of 
ground,  for  the  sum  of  eight  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  Maryland 
currency,  and  at  once  opened  his  seminary  there ;  at  the  same 
time  sending  one  of  his  companions,  Mr.  De  Mondesir,  to  teacli 
at  Georgetown.  The  two  establishments  thus  aided  each  other, 
Jesuit  and  Sulpitian,  vying  in  zeal  for  the  good  of  religion.  The 
college  was  to  be  the  hive  of  the  seminary,  as  that  was  to  be  of 
the  American  clergy.  But  before  the  seminary  had  time  to  form 
young  subjects  for  the  priesthood,  the  persecutions  of  the  Reign 
of  Terror  drove  to  the  United  States  learned  and  experienced 
priests,  who  enabled  Bishop  Carroll  to  multiply  the  missions  and 
extend  the  circle  far  beyond  the  limits  of  Maryland,  in  New  Eng- 
land, Kentucky,  and  the  most  remote  territoiy  of  the  West.  The 
essential  service  of  these  priests  will  appear  in  all  its  light  when 
we  come  to  speak  of  the  other  dioceses  of  the  United  States,  and 
a  bishop,  himself  a  native  of  the  country,  has  justly  said : 

"  The  Cathohc  Church  in  the  United  States  is  deeply  indebted 
to  the  zeal  of  the  exiled  French  clergy.     No  portion  of  the 


*  Of  the  companions  of  Nagot  we  may  mention  John  Floyd,  an  English- 
man, ordained  by  Bishop  Carroll  in  1705,  and  who  built  a  church  at  the 
Point  in  Baltimore,-  and  died  there  of  a  contagious  disease  in  1797  ;  and  John 
Thomas  Michael  Edward  Pierron  De  Mondesir,  born  in  March,  1770,  in  the 
parish  of  St.  Hilaire  de  Nogent  le  Rotrou.  He  was  ordained  on  the  30th  of 
September,  1798,  but  returned  to  France  in  1801.  They  were  the  third  and 
fourth  priests  ordained  in  the  United  States. 

+  Brent's  Biographical  Sketch,  126. 


IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.  69 

American  Churcli  o\yes  more  to  them  than  that  of  Kentucky. 
They  suppHed  our  infant  missions  with  most  of  their  earliest  and 
most  zealous  laborers,  and  they  likewise  pfave  to  us  our  firsv 
bishops.  There  is  something  in  the  elasticity  and  buoyancy  of 
character  of  the  French  which  adapts  them  in  a  peculiar  manner 
to  foreign  missions.  They  have  always  been  the  best  missiona- 
ries among  the  North  American  Indians ;  they  can  mould  their 
character  to  suit  every  circumstance  and  emergency ;  they  can 
be  at  home  and  cheerful  everywhere.  The  French  clergy  who 
landed  on  our  shores,  though  many  of  them  had  been  trained  up 
amid  all  the  refinements  of  polished  France,  could  yet  submit 
without  a  murmur  to  all  the  hardships  and  privations  of  a  mis- 
sion on  the  frontiers  of  civiHzation,  or  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
wilderness.  They  could  adapt  themselves  to  the  climate,  mould 
themselves  to  the  feelings  and  habits  of  a  people  opposite  to  them 
in  temperament  and  character."* 

The  most  celebrated  of  these  venerable  exiles  were  the  Abbe 
John  Dubois,  who  landed  at  Norfolk  in  July,  1791,  and  who  be- 
came in  1826  Bishop  of  New  York;  the  Abbes  Benedict  Flaget, 
John  B.  David,  and  Stephen  Badin,  who  reached  Baltimore  in  the 
same  vessel,  on  the  26th  of  March,  1792;  the  Abbes  Francis 
Matignon,  Ambrose  Marechal,  Gabriel  Richard,  and  Francis  Ci- 
quard  followed  close  on  these  last,  and  presented  themselves  to 
Bishop  Carroll  on  the  24th  of  June,  1792.  The  year  1794  in 
creased  the  clergy  of  the  United  States  by  the  arrival  of  the  Abbe 
Louis  Dubourg,  afterwards  Bishop  of  New  Orleans,  and  of  the 
Abbes  John  Moran^dlle,  Donatian  Olivier,  and  Rivet.  In  1796 
came  the  Abbe  Fournier,  a  missionary  in  Kentucky,  and  the 
Abbe  John  Lefevre  Cheverus,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Boston ;  in 
1798  the  Abbe  Anthony  Salmon  joined  his  friend  Fournier,  and 
others  still,  weary  of  leading  a  useless  life  in  England  or  Spain, 

*  Sketches  of  the  Early  Catholic  Missions  ef  Xentucky,  by  M.  J.  Spalding, 
D.  D.,  Louisville,  1845,  page  56. 


70  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

left  those  countries  where  they  received  a  generous  hospitality  to 
come  and  exercise  a  painful  ministry  in  America,  and  condemn 
themselves  to  a  life  of  privation.* 

The  Abbe  Marechal  was  ordained  at  Bordeaux  the  very  day  he 
sailed,  and  said  his  first  Mass  at  Baltimore.  The  Abbe  Stephen 
Badin  was  raised  to  the  priesthood  in  Baltimore  on  the  25th  of 
May,  1793,  and  was  the  first  priest  ordained  in  the  United  States. 

The  foundation  of  Georgetown  College  and  the  Sulpitian  Sem- 
inary gave  the  diocese  of  Baltimore  some  stability,  and  Bishop 
Carroll  was  enabled  to  assemble  his  clergy  in  a  Synod  in  Novem- 
ber, 1*791 ;  twenty  ecclesiastics  were  present;  it  was  determined 


*  John  Dubois,  born  in  Paris  in  1764,  ordained  in  1787,  came  to  America 
iu  1791,  founded  St.  Mary's  in  1807,  Bishop  of  New  York  m  1826,  died 
in  1842. 

Benedict  Flaget,  born  at  Bellom  in  1764,  Sulpitian  in  1783,  priest  in  1788, 
missionary  at  Vincennes,  Ind.,  in  1792,  Bishop  of  Bardstown  in  1810,  trans- 
ferred to  Louisville  in  1841,  died  in  1850. 

John  B.  David,  born  near  Nantes  in  1760,  priest  of  St.  Sulpice  in  1784, 
missionary  in  Maryland  in  1792,  in  Kentucky  in  1811,  coadjutor  of  Bards- 
town, and  Bishop  of  Mauricastro  in  partibus  in  1819,  died  in  1841. 

Stephen  Badin,  born  at  Orleans  in  1768,  ordained  priest  at  Baltimore  in 
1793,  missionary  in  Kentucky  in  1793,  died  at  Cincinnati  in  1853. 

Francis  Matignon,  born  at  Paris  in  1753,  priest  in  1773,  missionary  at  Bos- 
t  jn  in  1792,  died  at  Boston  in  1818. 

Ambrose  Marechal,  born  at  Orleans  in  1768,  priest  of  St.  Sulpice  1792, 
Archbishop  of  Baltimore  in  1817,  died  in  1828. 

Gabriel  Richard,  born  at  Saintes  in  1764,  Sulpitian,  ordained  in  1792,  mis- 
sionary in  1796,  at  Detroit  from  1798,  deputy  to  Congress  from  Michigan  iu 
1823,  nominated  Bishop  of  Detroit,  died  of  cholera  at  Detroit  in  1882. 

Francis  Ciquard,  born  at  Clermont,  ordained  in  1779,  a  Sulpitian,  mission- 
ary among  the  Indians  of  Maine  iu  1792,  died  at  Montreal. 

Louis  Dubourg,  born  at  St.  Domingo  in  1766,  priest  of  St.  Sulpice  in  1795, 
Bishop  of  New  Orleans  in  1815,  of  Montauban  in  1826,  Archbishop  of  Be- 
(janqon  iu  1833,  died  in  1833. 

John  Moranville,  born  near  Amiens  in  1760,  missionary  at  Cayenne  in 
1784,  came  to  the  United  States  in  1794,  stationed  at  Baltimore  in  1804,  died 
at  Amiens  iu  1824. 

The  Abbe  Fournier,  bom  in  the  diocese  of  Blois,  missioi  ary  in  Kentucky 
in  1791,  died  in  1803. 

John  Lefevre  Cheverus,  born  at  Mayenue  in  1768,  priest  in  1790,  Biahop 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  7? 

to  solicit  of  the  Holy  See  the  division  of  the  United  States  into 
several  dioceses,  or  at  least  the  appointment  of  a  coadjutor  to 
share  the  burden  of  the  Episcopate.  With  all  his  zeal,  Bishop 
Carroll  could  not  extend  his  pastoral  visits  over  his  immense  dio- 
cese, and  Pius  VI.,  alive  to  the  religious  wants  of  America,  ap- 
pointed as  coadjutor  Father  Leonard  Neale,  who  was  consecrated 
at  Baltimore,  Bishop  of  Gortyna  in  partihus^  in  the  course  of  the 
year  1800. 

Leonard  Neale  was  born  in  Maryland  on  the  15th  of  October, 
1746,  and  belonged  to  a  distinguished  family,  whose  ancestors 
fio-ure  amonof  the  first  colonists  of  Lord  Baltimore.*  His  mother, 
a  pious  and  courageous  widow,  who  had  already  parted  with  four 
sons  to  send  them  to  the  Jesuit  college  of  St.  Omers,  to  be  edu- 
cated, resolved  to  give  little  Leonard  the  same  advantages,  and  at 
the  age  of  twelve  he  too  embarked  for  France.  There  he  followed 
the  example  of  his  brothers,  who  had  all  entered  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  while  their  sister  Anne  became  a  Poor  Clare,  at  Aire  in 
Artois.  But  Father  Leonard  had  scarcely  pronounced  his  vows 
when  the  dispersion  of  the  Society  compelled  him  to  retire  to 

of  Boston  in  1810,  of  Montauban  in  1818,  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux  in  1826, 
Cardinal  in  1836,  died  in  1836. 

The  Abbe  Eivet,  born  at  Limoges,  missionary  at  Vincennes  in  1795,  died 
in  1803. 

Anthony  Salmon,  born  in  the  diocese  of  Blois,  missionary  in  Kentucky  in 
17'J8,  died  of  cold,  in  the  snow,  near  Bardstown  in  1799. 

The  Abbe  Barriere  escaped  from  prison  at  Bordeaux,  and  reached  Balti- 
more in  1793,  missionary  in  Kentucky  and  Louisiana,  died  at  Bordeaux  in 
1814. 

Anthony  Gamier,  horn  in  the  diocese  cf  La  Eochelle  in  1762,  pastor  of  St. 
Patrick's,  Baltimore,  in  1792,  returned  to  France  in  1803,  Superior-general 
of  St.  Sulpice  in  1827»  died  in  1845,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three. 

John  Tessier  became  President  of  the  Seminary  of  Baltimore  on  Mr.  Na- 
got's  resignation  in  1810. 

Peter  Babade,  born  at  Lyons,  came  to  America  ii;  1796,  died  at  Lyons  in 
1846. 

Donatian  Olivier,  born  at  Nantes  in  1746,  missionary  in  Illinois  in  1795, 
died  i_  1841,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five. 

*  See  Davis's  Day-star,  pp.  248,  244. 


72  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

England.  In  1773  he  resolved  to  go  and  evangelize  Demerara, 
In  Euglisli  Guiana,  and  there  he  preached  the  faith  successfully 
to  the  natives ;  but  the  persecutions  of  the  colonists  prevented  his 
continuing  his  ministry  even  in  that  deadly  climate,  and  in  1*7  83 
Father  Nealc  set  out  for  Maryland.  After  having  been  attached 
to  several  churches  in  that  State,  he  was  sent  in  1793  to  Phila- 
delphia, where  the  yellow  fever  had  carried  off  the  two  Jesuits 
who  directed  that  mission.  Father  Neale  was  unwearied  in  brav- 
ing the  pestilence  and  rescuing  its  victims  by  his  charitable  care. 
In  1797  and  1798  the  same  epidemic  renewed  its  frightful 
ravages  in  Philadelphia,  and  found  the  missionary  in  the  breach, 
ever  ready  to  bear  the  consolations  of  his  ministry  to  the  sick  and 
dying.  In  1799  Bishop  Carroll  called  him  to  preside  over 
Georgetown  College,  where  he  succeeded  Mr.  Dubourg,  and  he 
was  still  in  that  post  when  the  Episcopal  dignity  surprised 
him.* 

The  two  ex- Jesuits,  become  bishops,  would,  it  may  be  imagined, 
care  little  about  the  fate  of  their  Society,  extinguished  thirty 
years  before.  But  the  sons  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  never  forget 
their  mother,  and  as  soon  as  Bishop  Carroll  learned  that  the  So- 
ciety still,  in  a  manner,  survived  in  the  Russian  empire,  he  begged 
Father  Gniber  to  readmit  the  Fathers  living  in  the  United  States. 
He  added  that  the  property  of  the  Society  was  preserved  almost 


*  Notice  on  the  Most  Eev.  Leonard  Neale,  second  Archbishop  of  Balti- 
more, by  M.  C.  Jenkins.  U.  S.  Cathohc  Magazine,  iii.  505.  Oliver's  precious 
Ccllecticn  onables  us  to  give  the  names  of  the  five  brothers  : 

William  Neale,  born  August  14, 1743,  died  in  1799  at  Manchester  Hospital, 
insane. 

Benedict  Neale,  born  August  14,  1743,  apparently  a  twin  brother  of  the 
forniCr,  died  in  Maryland  in  1787. 

Charles  Neale,  who  died  at  Georgetown,  April  28,  1823. 

Leonard  Neale,  born  15th  October,  1746  (Oliver  says  1747),  died  in  1817. 

Francis  Neale,  born  in  1755,  died  in  Maryland  in  1837. 

There  seems  to  be  some  confusion,  however,  as  Leonard  is  styled  tlie 
youngest. 


MOST   RKV.  JOIJN   CAExROLL,  D.D., 
J'int  Li.  hop  cfBatiimore,  Md.,  und  oj  the  United  Siates. 


IN   I'HE    UNITED   STATES,  73 

intact,  and  that  it  would  support  thirty  religious.  The  letter  of 
the  bishop  and  of  his  coadjutor  is  dated  May  25,  1803,  and  con- 
tains this  remarkable  passage  of  modesty  and  self  denial : 

"  We  have  been  so  much  employed  in  ministries  foreign  to  our 
institute ;  we  are  so  inexperienced  in  government ;  the  want  of 
books,  even  of  the  constitutions  and  decrees  of  the  congregations, 
is  so  flagrant,  that  you  cannot  find  one  Jesuit  among  us  sufficiently 
qualified  by  health  and  strength,  as  well  as  other  requisites,  to 
fulfil  the  duties  of  Superior.  It  would  seem  then  most  expedient 
to  send  here  some  Father  from  those  around  you.  He  must 
know  your  intentions  thoroughly,  and  be  prudent  enough  to  un- 
dertake nothing  precipitately  before  he  has  studied  the  govern- 
ment, laws,  and  spirit  of  this  republic,  and  the  manners  of  the 
people." 

There  were  then  in  Maryland  only  thirteen  Jesuits,  nearly  all 
broken  with  age  and  missionary  toils.  Father  Gruber  at  once 
authorized  a  renewal  of  their  vows,  and  Fathers  Robert  Molyneux, 
Charles  Neale,  Charles  Sewall,  and  Sylvester  Boarman  availed 
themselves  of  the  permission  ;*  but  he  did  not  send  a  visitor  from 
Europe,  as  Father  Carroll  asked,  aiid  he  had  confidence  enough 
in  the  American  Jesuits  to  name  one  of  them  Superior  of  the 
whole  mission.  The  choice  of  Father  Gruber  fell  on  Father  Mo- 
lyneux, and  there  soon  arrived  in  the  United  States  Fathers  Adam 
Britt,  John  Henry,  F.  Maleve,  Anthony  Kohlmann,  P.  Epinette, 
Maximilian  de  Rantzeau,  Peter  Malou,  John  Grassi,  and  F.  Van- 
quickenborne.  These  new"  auxiliaries,  with  the  Sulpitians  and 
other  French  priests,  <jontributed  not  only  to  propagate  the  faith 
rapidly  in  the  United  States,  but  especially  to  bring  back  or  rC' 
tain  in  the  practice  of  religion  the  Catholic  settlers  till  then  de- 
prived of  pastoi-s.f 

*  Laity's  Directory  for  1822,  p.  123. 

t  Heiirion,  Ilistoire  des  Missions  Catholiques,  ii.  662;  Cretineau  Joly,  His* 
toire  de  la  Compagne  de  J^sus,  vi.  859  ;  Laity's  Directory,  124. 

4 


74  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

Among  the  instruments  of  the  regeneration  A  the  Church  ic 
the  United  States,  we  must  not  forget  the  many  French  families 
who  emigrated  from  St.  Domingo  at  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
and  settled  at  Baltimore  or  New  York.  In  his  history  of  the 
Huguenot  refugees,  Weiss  enters  into  long  details  on  those  who 
settled  in  America  on  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes.  The 
author,  following  his  system,  exaggerates  beyond  all  limit  the  im- 
portance of  that  immigration,  and  draws  an  imaginary  sketch  of 
the  influence  exercised  on  America,  by  the  French  Huguenots,  in 
agriculture,  literature,  politics,  arts,  sciences,  civili^f-^ion,  and  so 
forth.  We  shall  be  much  more  in  truth's  domain  wnen  we  affirm 
that  the  French  Catholic  families,  driven  from  the  West  Indies 
by  the  frightful  consequences  of  the  revolution,  and  who  came  to 
seek  peace  and  liberty  in  the  United  States,  far  exceeded  in  num- 
ber the  Protestant  immigration  of  the  previous  century.  Nay, 
more  :  misfortune  having  purified  their  faith,  these  Creoles  were 
distinguished  for  their  attachmeut  to  religion,  and  often  became 
the  living  models  of  American  congregations.  Without  counting 
Martinique  and  Guadaloupe,  the  French  part  of  St.  Domingo 
contained  in  1793  forty  thousand  whites.  All  emigrated  to 
escape  being  massacred  by  the  blacks ;  many  mulattoes  followed 
them,  and  of  this  mass  of  emigrants  a  great  part  settled  in  the 
United  States. 

The  annals  of  Baltimore  say  that  on  the  9th  of  July,  1*793, 
fifty-three  vessels  arrived  at  that  port,  bearing  about  one  thousand 
whites  and  five  hundred  colored  people,  flying  from  the  disasters 
of  St.  Domingo.  These  arrivals  were  followea  by  many  others, 
either  at  Baltimore  or  at  other  ports  of  the  United  States.  In 
1807  the  Catholics  in  New  York  were  estimated  at  fourteen 
thousand,  "  a  large  part  of  whom  are  refugees  from  St.  Domingo 
and   other   islands.'"^      Before  joining   the   negro  insurrection^ 

*  Griffith's  Annals  of  Baltimore,  140. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  '  75 

Toussaint  L'Ouverture  protected  the  flight  of  the  family  whose 
coa.-'Lman  he  was,  and  enabled  them  and  many  other  Creol^^s  to 
reach  Baltimcre.  In  a  notice  on  Bishop  Dubourg  we  read  tlat 
the  disasters  of  St.  Domingo  cast  on  our  hospitable  shores  a  con- 
siderable number  of  Catholic  families  and  colored  people,  most  of 
them  full  of  piety,  and  others  disposed  to  it  by  misfortune.*  In 
the  Life  of  the  Abbe  Moranvillo  we  also  find  that,  "  besides  the 
emigration  from  France,  a  very  large  number  of  the  most  respect- 
able inhabitants  of  St.  Domiugo,  flying  from  the 'massacre  of 
1793,  found  refuge  at  Baltimore.  Many  of  these  refugees  were 
endowed  with  emineat  piety  ;"|'  and  the  author  of  the  Annals  of 
Baltimore  says  that  these  immigrations  of  French  colonists  in- 
creased the  wealth  and  population  ■.  f  the  city. 

We  may  also  claim  as  French  not  only  the  inhabitants  of 
Michigan,  Illinois,  and  Louisiana,  but  also  the  good  Acadians 
who  were,  in  1756,  forcibly  torn  irom  their  homes  by  the  Enghsh, 
and  to  the  number  of  seven  thousand,  forced  on  board  of  vessels, 
which  scattered  them  along  the  coast  from  Boston  to  Carolina, 
leaving  them  to  the  charity  of  those  among  whom  they  were 
thrown.  The  only  crime  of  the  Acadians  was  their  religion  anr' 
tirth  (they  were  French  Catholics),  and  their  treatment  is  equalled 
ii  perfidy  only  by  the  conduct  of  Charles  III.  of  Spain  to  the 
Jesuits. 

Tnus,  English  fanaticism  and  the  disasters  of  the  revolution 
peopled  the  territory  of  the  United  States  with  more  French 
Catholics  than  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  ever  sent 
Huguenots ;  and  we  ourselves  have  been  able  to  see  with  our  own 

*  Memoire  pour  server  a  I'histoire  ecclesiastique  pendant  le  xviii  siecle. 
laris,  1815,  iii.  194. 

t  Catholic  Almanac,  1839.  Among  those  who  thus  emigrated  to  this 
country  we  need  only  mention  the  late  Father  Nicholas  Petit,  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  who  recetitly  died  at  Troy,  and  whose  apostolical  labors  in  many 
parts  of  the  country  will  long  be  remembered  by  those  he  guided  in  the 
wnya  of  perfection. 


76  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCZ 

eyes  how  many  descendants  of  t'le  planters  of  St.  Domingo  and 
exiles  of  Acadie  have  faithfully  presei'ved  at  New  York,  Baltimore, 
Charleston,  and  New  Orleans  the  faith  of  their  fathers. 


CHAPTER    711. 


THE    CHURCH    IN    MARILAND. 


The  Carmelites — Poor  Clares— Visitation  nuns — Sisters  of  Charity— Baltimore  an  ec- 
clesiastical province  with  four  suflFragans— D>^uth  of  A.rchbishop  Carroll.* 

After  having  provided,  by  the  foundation  of  a  college  and 
seminary,  for  the  education  of  youth  and  the  recruiting  of  the 
priesthood,  the  Bishop  of  Baltimore's  next  care  was  to  introduce 
into  Maryland  religious  communities  of  women,  to  instruct  the 
young  of  their  own  sex,  nurse  the  sick,  and  adopt  the  orphan. 
These  good  works  have  ever  been  the  heiitage  of  the  Church, 
and  ephemeral  indeed  must  be  the  branch  which  has  not  ye*, 
laid  the  foundation  of  convents  for  prayer  or  charity.  Till  1*793 
the  United  States  did  not  know  what  a  female  religious  was.f 
It  was  only  then  that  Father  Charles  Neale,  brother  of  the  future 
coadjutor  of  Baltimore,  brought  with   him   from   Belgium   to 

*  The  year  1790  is  a  memorable  era  in  Catholic  publication  in  the  United 
States.  The  zealous  Jesuits  had,  even  prior  to  the  Kevolution,  issued  a  few 
prayer-books  and  the  Following  of  Christ,  all  privately  printed.  The  faith- 
ful now  needed  an  edition  of  the  Bible,  and  a  quarto  was  printed  by  Carey, 
Stewart  &  Co.,  of  Philadelphia,  in  1790.  But  one  edition  of  the  Protestant 
,  version  had  then  appeared  in  America,  so  that  Catholics,  so  often  traduced 
as  enemies  of  the  Bible,  were  among  the  first  to  print  it  in  this  country,  and 
to  this  day  can  boast  of  the  finest  edition,  the  unsurpassed  llaydock  from 
Dunigan's  press. 

i  The  Ursuline  Convent  at  New  Orleans  was  founded  in  1727,  but  Louici- 
ftna  at  that  time  belonged  to  France.    Before  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  77 

America  four  Carmelites  of  St.  Theresa's  reform,  three  of  whom 
vzere  Ainorican^,  the  fourth  an  EngHsh  lady ;  and  thus  one  of  the 
most  austere  orders  in  the  Church  was  the  first  to  naturalize  itsell 
in  the  United  States.  Father  Charles  Neale  had  a  cousin, 
Mother  Mary  Margaret  Brent,  Superior  of  the  Carmelite  convent 
at  Antwerp,  a  house  founded  only  thirty-seven  years  after  St. 
Theresa's  death.  At  the  request  of  this  lady.  Father  Charles 
Neale  in  1780  assumed  the  spiritual  direction  of  the  convent,  and 
he,  by  his  correppondence  with  his  friends  in  America,  excited  a 
desire  to  havr  a  branch  of  the  Carmelites  at  Port  Tobacco,  where 
the  Neale  family  resided.  Father  Carroll  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of 
Antwerp,  and  on  the  19th  of  April,  1790,  four  Carmehtes  em- 
barked at  Antwerp"  with  Father  Neale  for  Maryland.  They  were 
Mother  Bernardine  Mathews,  Superior,  her  two  sisters,  Mothers 
Aloysius  and  Eleanora  Mathews,  from  the  convent  of  Hogstraet, 
and  Sister  Mary  Dickinson,  of  the  convent  of  Antwerp.  On  the 
15th  of  October  the  Carmelites  took  possession  of  their  house, 
which  Father  Neale  had  built  at  his  own  expense ;  and  there 
they  practised  their  rule  in  all  its  severity,  fasting  eight  months 
in  the  year,  wearing  woollen,  sleeping  on  straw,  and  offering  their 
prayers  and  mortifications  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  In  1800 
they  lost  their  Superior,  who  was  succeeded  by  Mother  Dickinson. 
In  1823  Father  Charles  Neale,  their  venerable  founder,  died,  after 
having  directed  them  by  his  counsels  for  thirty-three  years.  In 
1840  Mother  Dickinson  followed  him  to  the  grave.  Born  in 
London  and  educated  in  France,  she  had  been  a  religious  foi 
fifty-eight  years,   and  was  revered  as  a  saint  by  her  spiritual 


century,  Canada  had  six  female  religious  communities.    The  following  aro 
^he  dates  of  their  foundation: 

1639 — Hospital  Nuns,  and  Ursulines  of  Quebec. 

1642— Hospital  Nuns  of  Montreal. 

1G53 — Sisters  of  the  Congregation  of  Our  Lady.. 

1693 — Sisters  of  the  General  Hospital,  Quebec. 

1697— The  Ursul=nes  of  Threo  EivDrs. 


78  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

dniighters.  At  this  epoch  the  Carmelites  suffered  th3  greatest 
financial  embarrassments,  so  as  actually  to  experience  all  the  pr* - 
vations  of  want,  m  consequence  of  the  mismanagement  of  the 
form  from  which  tiiey  derived  their  support.  Archbishop  Whit- 
field, touched  by  their  painful  position,  ad\ased  them  to  leave  Port 
Tobacco  and  remove  to  Baltimore,  where  they  might  create  re- 
sources by  opening  a  boarding-school.  The  Holy  See  permitted 
this  modification  of  their  rule,  and  on  the  13th  of  September, 
1831,  the  Carmelites,  to  the  mimber  of  twei.ty-four,  bade  a 
last  farewell  to  the  convent  wlere  most  of  them  had  devoted 
themselves  to  the  austerities  of  a  religious  life.  On  the  next 
day  they  reached  Baltimore,  and  after  offering  a  short  prayer 
at  the  cathedi'al,  hastened  to  inolose  themsalves  in  their  new 
cloister. 

The  Carmelites  had  for  several  y:.ars,  as  one  of  their  chaplains, 
the  Abbe  Herard,  a  French  priest  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  had 
left  France  for  Guiana  in  1*784,  and  withdrew  to  the  United 
States  during  the  revolution.  He  was  long  their  most  active 
benefactor,  gave  them  a  considerable  sum  towards  building  their 
chapel,  and  left  them  a  legacy,  the  income  of  which  still  sup- 
ports their  chaplain.  The  Carmelites  at  Baltimore  now  number 
twenty  sisters,  and  their  contemplative  life  doubtless  averts  the 
scourges  of  God  from  the  land  where  his  name  is  so  dishonored.* 

About  1792  some  Poor  Clares,  driven-  from  France  by  the 
horrors  of  the  revolution,  sought  a  refuge  in  Maryland.  Their 
names  were  Marie  de  la  Marche,  Abbess  of  the  Order  of  St.  Clare, 

Celeste  la  Blonde  de  la  Rochefoucault,  and de  St.  Luc,  and 

they  were  assisted  by  a  lay  brother  named  Alexis.     They  took 


*  Catholic  Magazine,  viii.  24,  38.  The  Carmelite  Nuns  were  founded  by 
the  Blessed  John  Soreth,  a  Norman,  the  twenty-sixth  General  and  first  re- 
former of  the  Carmelites.  They  were  instituted  by  a  Bull  of  Pope  Nicholas 
V.  in  1542.  The  Carmelite  Nuns  were  reformed  by  St.  Theresa  in  1562,  and 
the  Spanish  reform  introduced  into  France  by  Madame  A.carLe  in  1603. 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  79 

up  their  abode  at  Georgetown,  although  it  is  certain  that  tliey 
had  a  hoiir.e  also  at  Frederick,  as  we  learn  from  the  will  of  thd 
venerable  Abbess,  dated  in  1801,  and  made  in  favor  of  Sister  de 
la  Rochefoucault.  It  is  preserved  at  the  Visitation  Convent, 
Georgetown,  and  begins  in  these  words :  "  I,  Mary  de  la  Marche, 
Abbess  of  the  Order  of  St.  Clare,  formerly  of  the  village  of  Sours 
in  France,  and  now  of  Frederick  in  Maryland." 

In  1801  they  purchased  a  lot  on  Lafayette-street,  in  George- 
town, of  John  Threlkeld,  the  deed  being  dated  on  the  first  of 
August.  The  good  sisters  had  the  consolation  to  be  near  the 
college,  which  secured  them  religious  aid.  They  endeavored  to 
support  themselves  at  Georgetown  by  opening  a  school,  but  they 
had  constantly  to  struggle  with  poverty ;  and  on  the  death  of  the 
Abbess  in  1805,  Madame  de  la  Rochefoucault,  who  succeeded 
her,  sold  the  convent  to  Bishop  Xeale  by  deed  of  June  29th,  1805 
and  returned  to  Europe  with  her  companion.  As  we  saw  in  the 
last  chapter,  tlx  four  brothers  ISTeale,  who  entered  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  had  a  sister,  a  Poor  Clare,  at  Aire  in  Artois ;  and  it  would 
seem  natural  that,  when  the  convents  in  France  were  suppressed, 
she  and  her  companions  should  take  refuge  in  Maryland ;  but 
there  is  nothing  to  show  that  she  ever  returned  to  America.  It 
doubtless  did  not  enter  tlsA  designs  of  Providence  that  the  Order 
of  St.  Clare  should  take  root  in  the  United  States,  reserving  all 
its  benedictions  for  the  Order  of  the  Visitation.* 

Miss  Alice  Lalor,  who  was  the  foundress  of  the  Visitation  Nuns 
in  America,  w^as  born  about  1766  in  Queen's  county,  Ireland,  of 
pious  and  worthy  parents.  She  was  brought  up  at  Kilkenny, 
whither  her  family  removed  when  young  Ahce  was  still  a  child. 


*  The  Poor  Clares,  a  branch  of  the  Franciscan  Order,  were  founded  ix 
Italy  in  1212  by  St.  Clare  ScifFa.  St.  Francis  of  Assissium  gave  them  tlieij 
rule  in  1224.  Eeformed  by  St.  Colette  in  1435,  the  Poor  Clares  are  extremely 
austere ;  they  fast  every  day,  never  taking  more  than  a  single  meal,  e.^oej « 
on  Christmas-day. 


80  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

She  was  distinguished  from  her  brothers  and  sisters  by  her  extra- 
ordinary devotion,  and  made  rapid  progress  in  Anrtue  under  the 
direction  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Carroll,  the  parish  priest  of  the  place. 
Dr.  Lanigan,  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  having  visited  Kilkenny 
when  Alice  Lalor  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  the  young  maiden 
consulted  that  prelate  on  her  desire  of  uniting  herself  to  God  by 
the  vow  of  chastity ;  and  after  having  her  sincerity  put  to  the 
test,  she  received  permission  to  follow  her  design,  but  without  yet 
leaving  her  family. 

Alice  thus  lived  some  years  in  the  world,  till  Bishop  Lanigan, 
wishing  to  form  a  religious  community  at  Kilkenny,  invited  her 
to  join  it.  She  accepted  with  joy,  but  was  opposed  in  her  voca- 
tion by  the  will  of  her  parents,  who  had  then  made  up  their 
minds  to  emigrate  to  America,  and  who  would  not  consent  to 
part  with  their  daughter.  She  accordingly  came  out  with  them 
in  1*797,  after  having  promised  the  prelate  to  return  to  Ireland  in 
two  years,  to  embrace  the  religious  state.  Such  was  not,  how- 
ever, the  design  of  the  Almighty  on  his  faithful  handmaid.  She 
settled  at  Philadelphia  with  her  family,  and  here  confided  her 
projects  to  Father  Leonard  ISTeale,  whom  she  took  as  her  director. 
He  had  long  wished  to  found  a  religious  community  at  Philadel- 
phia, although  he  was  yet  undecided  what  order  would  best  suit 
the  countiy.  He  showed  Miss  Lalor  that  America  needed  her  de- 
votedness  far  more  than  Ireland  did ;  and  being,  as  her  confessor, 
invested  with  the  necessary  powers,  be  released  her  from  her 
promise.  Obedient  to  his  counsels,  Alice  joined  two  other  young 
women  of  Philadelphia,  animated  by  a  similar  vocation  to  the 
religious  state.  She  left  her  family  to  begin  under  Father  Neale's 
direction  a  house  for  the  education  of  girls.  But  the  new  institu- 
tion had  scarcely  begun  when  the  yellow  fever  opened  its  fearful 
ravages  in  Philadelphia.  Many  of  the  people  fled  from  the  scourge, 
and  among  them  the  parents  of  Miss  Lalor.  They  used  the  most 
touching  appeals  to  induce  her  to  accompany  them,  but  she  re- 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  81 

mained  imsbaken  at  her  post,  and  beheld  her  two  companiora 
carried  off  by  the  pestilence,  without  being  discouraged  in  her 
resDluiion  of  devoting  herself  to  God. 

In  1799  Father  Neale  having  been  appointed  President^ of 
Georgetown  College,  persuaded  Miss  Lalor  to  retire  to  the  Clarist 
convent  in  that  city,  so  as  not  to  be  exposed  to  the  world  which 
she  had  renounced.  She  left  Philadelphia  with  a  pious  lady,  and 
both  rendered  all  the  ser\ace  they  could  to  the  Poor  Clares  as 
teachers.  Their  diiector  soon  advised  them  to  open  a  school  by 
themselves,  which  they  did ;  and  their  rising  institute  received  an 
accession  in  another  Philadelphia  lady,  who  brought  a  small  for- 
tune. It  was  employed  partly  in  acquiring  a  wooden  house,  the 
site  of  which  is  still  embraced  in  the  convent  gi'ounds.  Father 
Neale,  on  becoming  coadjutor,  continued  to  reside  at  Georgetown, 
where  he  bestowed  on  his  spiritual  daughters  the  most  active  so- 
licitude. The  holy  prelate  incessantly  offered  his  prayers  to  God 
to  know  to  what  rule  it  was  most  suitable  to  bind  the  new  society. 
He  had  a  great  predilection  for  the  Visitation,  founded  by  St. 
Francis  of  Sales,  and  a  circumstance  convinced  both  him  and 
Miss  Lalor  that  in  this  he  followed  the  designs  of  God.  Among 
some  old  books  belonging  to  the  Poor  Clares,  they  found  the 
complete  text  of  the  Rules  and  Constitution  of  the  Visitation, 
although  the  poor  sisters  were  wholly  unaware  that  they  had  ever 
possessed  the  volume.  Bishop  Neale  failed,  however,  in  his  en- 
deavors to  obtain  the  aid  of  some  nuns  from  Europe  in  order  to 
form  his  American  novices  to  the  rule  of  St.  Frances  de  Chantal. 
Many  Catholics  blamed  the  project  of  establishing  a  new  religious 
community  in  the  United  States,  fearing  to  excite  the  fanaticism 
of  the  Protestants.  Bishop  Carroll  advised  Miss  Lalor  and  her 
companions  to  join  the  Carmelites  of  Port  Tobacco.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  wealthy  lady  offered  to  go  to  Ireland  at  her  own 
expense,  and  bring  out  nuns,  if  Bishop  Neale  would  decide  in 
favor  of  the  Ursulines.     The  zealous  coadjutor,  however,  refused 

4* 


82  THE   CATHOLIC    OHUnCH 

these  offers,  believing  that  the  institute  of  the  Visitfvtion  was  best 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  CathoHcs  in  the  United  States 

We  have  stated  that  Bishop  Neale  had  bought  the  Claiist 
convent  on  their  departure  for  Europe  in  1805.  He  immediately 
installed  the  "  Pious  Ladies"  there  (for  by  that  name  the  future 
Visitation  Nuns  were  known  in  Georgetown),  and  by  deed  of 
June  9,  1808,  confirmed  June  9,  1812,  transferred  the  property 
to  Alice  Lalor,  Maria  McDermott,  and  Mary  Neale. 

In  1814  the  sisters  numbered  thirteen,  and  their  fervor  induced 
their  holy  director  to  permit  them  to  take  simple  vows  to  be  re- 
newed every  year. 

Up  to  this  time  Bishop  Neale  had  been  the  only  Superior  of 
the  community,  but  he  deemed  it  proper  to  invest  one  of  the 
sisters  with  authority  over  her  companions,  and  Miss  Lalor  was 
called  to  the  important  post. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  Visitation  nuns  in  the  United 
States :  nor  is  it  ^vithout  striking  points  of  resemblance  to  its 
foundation  in  Europe.  The  energy  and  perseverance  of  Bishop 
Neale  recall  the  pious  efforts  of  St.  Francis  of  Sales,  for  the  same 
holy  enterprise.  In  both  cases  a  bishop  gave  the  first  impulse  ; 
in  both  hemispheres  an  isolated  lady  lays  the  first  foundation, 
undeteiTed  by  any  obstacle  ;  and  if  in  Europe  the  Visitation  soon 
opened  its  convents  in  twenty  different  spots  in  France,  so  in 
America  the  Mother  house  at  Georgetown  has  now  branches  of 
the  order  at  Baltimore,  Mobile,  St.  Louis,  Washington,  Brooklyn, 
and  Wheeling ;  and,  in  these  various  convents,  now  numbers  over 
three  hundred  nuns.  But  it  was  not  without  new  and  severe  tri- 
als that  Alice  Lalor's  house  acquired  this  remarkable  development, 
as  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel. 

The  nine  convents  which  now  exist  in  the  LTnited  States,  all, 
or  nearly  all,  filiations  of  the  Georgetown  convent,  have  boarding- 
schools  or  day  schools  for  girls  of  the  higher  as  well  as  of  the 
poorer  class.     The  education  received  in  their  schools  is  remark* 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  8S 

ably  >jOod,  an(.  the  work  of  Miss  Alice  Lalor  is  an  immense  ben* 
bfit  to  /A.merica.* 

The  same  is  true  of  that  to  which  Mrs.  Seton,  the  foundress  of 
the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the  United  States,  devoted  herself;  and 
if  Miss  Lalor  reminds  us  of  a  St.  Frances  de  Chantal,  Mrs.  Seton 
will  frequently  recall  the  remembrance  of  Madame  Le  Gras,  the 
pious  instrument  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  Elizabeth  Bayley  was 
born  at  New  York,  on  the  28th  of  August,  1114,  and  at  the  ago 
of  twenty  married  a  respectable  merchant  named  William  Seton, 
of  a  Scotch  family,  whose  chief  is  now  Lord  Winton.  Like  her 
parents  and  husband,  she  belonged  to  the  Episcopal  Church  ;  but 
she  nurtured  much  piety  amid  her  Protestantism,  and  so  merited, 
that  God  gave  her  the  grace  of  embracing  the  truth.  A  voyage 
undertaken  under  sad  auspices,  led  to  her  conversion.  Mr.  Setou's 
healtl'.,  broker  by  cares  arising  out  of  the  mercantile  difficulties 
of  the  day,  induced  his  physicians  to  order  him  to  Italy ;  but  it 
was  too  late.  Soon  after  reaching  Pisa,  in  1803,  he  expired, 
leaving  his  widow  to  provide  for  five  young  children.  In  her 
misfortune  and  isolation,  in  a  foreign  land,  Mrs.  Seton  found  a 
Providence  in  the  family  of  the"  brothers,  Philip  and  Anthony 
Filicci,  two  Leghorn  merchants,  who  had  taken  a  deep  interest 
in  her.  Not  satisfied  with  welcomino-  her  to  their  roof,  the 
Messrs.  Filicci  were  more  sensible  to  the  wants  of  her  soul  than 
to  the  grief  of  her  heart,  and  the  virtues  of  the  desolate  Avidow 
inspired  an  ardent  desire  to  behold  her  a  Catholic.  Mrs.  Seton 
^as  not  disinclined,  and,  indeed,  whether  at  Pisa  or  Florence,  felt 


*  On  the  6th  June,  ICIO,  Madame  de  Chantal  and  her  companions,  under 
tlie  direction  of  St.  Francis  of  Sales,  founded  the  order  of  the  Visitation  of 
our  Lady,  at  Annecy,  in  Savoy.  Tiie  Constitutions  were  approved  by  Pope 
Urban  VIII.,  1626.  The  name  of  "  Visitation  "  was  at  first  ^iven  by  the 
Bishop  of  Geneva  to  a  congregation  of  Eerm'Us  of  the  Visitation.,  founded  in 
ICOS  on  Mount  Voeron,  in  Chamblais,  to  visit  the  ancient  sanctuary  dedi- 
cated to  the  Blessed  Virgin  on  that  mountain,  and  which  had  been  long 
venerated  in  ths  country. 


S4:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

ever  attracted  to  the  churclies.  The  two  bi  others  aCvX)rdiTigly 
undertook  to  instruct  her,  with  a  zeal  beyond  all  praise,  and  the 
collection  still  preserved  of  their  lott?r3  and  rehgiou;:  treatises 
composed  to  clear  the  doubts  of  Mrs.  Seton,  give  the  highest  ide? 
of  the  merit  of  these  honorable  merchants.  Mrs.  Seton  had 
brought  with  her  to  Italy  only  her  eldest  daughter ;  she  war 
therefore  anxious  to  return  to  her  other  children,  and  Anthony 
Filicci  was  devoted  enough  to  embark  with  her,  to  continue  the 
w^ork  of  so  desirable  a  conversion.  On  arriving  at  New  York, 
Mrs.  Seton  frankly  avowed  her  design  to  her  family,  but  met  a 
formidable  opposition.  They  appealed  to  her  interest,  affection, 
self-love,  to  shame  her  of  a  creed  professed  at  New  York  only, 
they  said,  by  "  low  Irish."  This  did  not  suffice ;  they  jDlaced 
near  her  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart,  afterwards  Protestant 
Bishop  of  New  York,  and  that  gentleman  undertook  to  she  w  her 
the  errors  of  the  Catholic  religion.  But  Mrs.  Seton  sought  other 
counsels  from  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  and  the  distinguished 
clergymen,  the  Abbes  Cheverus  and  Matignon,  who  had  sought 
a  refuge  in  America.  At  last,  regardless  of  all  human  considera- 
tions, Mrs.  Seton  made  her  abjuration  on  the  14th  of  March,  1805, 
in  St.  Peter's  church,  the  first,  and  long  the  only  Catholic  church 
in  the  State  of  New  York. 

This  noble  step  placed  the  courageous  woman  under  her  fami- 
ly's ban ;  and  she  found  herself  abandoned  by  her  wealthy  rela- 
tives. To  shield  her  children  from  want,  Mrs.  Seton  opened  a 
school  at  New  York ;  but  she  was  aided  especially  by  the  chari- 
table care  of  the  two  Filicci ;  and  as  long  as  she  lived,  she  re- 
ceived from  these  generous  Italians  an  annual  pension  of  about 
six  hundred  dollars,  not  including  more  .:  ">nsiderable  donations 
whenever  she  asked  them,  for  her  oi-phans  and  patients.  In  1808 
Mr.  Dubourg,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Montauban,  and  then  Presi- 
dent of  St.  Mary's  College,  Baltimore,  having  become  acquainted 
with  Mrs.  Seton,  induced  her  to  go  to  Baltimore  and  open  a 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  85 

school  for  girls,  on  a  lot  which  the  Siilpitians  put  at  h  tr  disposjd. 
These  occupations  did  not,  however,  fill  up  the  zeal  of  the  young 
widow  :  she  longed  to  consecrate  her  life  to  God,  and  the  assist- 
ance of  the  poor.  Unfortunately,  she  had  no  resources  to  found 
a  religious  establishment,  when  a  young  convert,  ^Ir.  Samuel 
Cooper,*  who  Avas  studying  for  the  priesthood  at  Baltimore, 
informed  Mr.  Dubourg  of  his  resolution  to  employ  his  fortune  in 
good  works.  This  coincidence  of  views  seem  to  indicate  the 
designs  of  Providence  ;  and  with  the  approbation  of  Bishop  Car- 
roll, some  land  was  purchased  near  Emmitsburg,  in  Maryland, 
and  buildings  begun  for  a  convent  of  Sisters  of  Charity.  Mrs. 
Seton  was  already  certain  of  four  associates,  and  they  took  the 
religious  habit  together,  at  Emmitsburg,  on  the  1st  of  January, 
1809.  Mr.  Dubourg  immediately  endeavored  to  procure  from 
France  the  Rules  and  Constitution  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Vincent  of 
Paul,  in  order  to  give  them  to  his  new  community.  Mrs.  Seton 
also  desired  that  some  Sisters  of  Charity  should  come  over  from 
France,  to  instruct  them  in  their  duties,  and  the  spirit  of  their 


*  Samuel  Cooper,  bora  in  Virginia,  of  Protestant  parents,  at  first  fol- 
lowed the  sea,  and  visited  various  parts  of  the  globe.  Having  fallen  dan- 
gerously ill  at  Paris,  he  began  to  reflect  on  the  truths  of  faith,  and  after 
several  years  of  study,  he  embraced  Catholicity,  in  the  fall  of  1807,  at 
Philadelphia,  during  a  visit  of  Bishop  Carroll  to  that  city.  He  entered  the 
Seminary  at  Baltimore  in  September,  1SC8,  then  went  to  Italy,  was  ordained 
priest  at  Baltimore,  August  15,  1820,  and  became  pastor  of  the  congregation 
at  Emmitsburg.  He  remained  there  only  nine  months,  and  then  exercised 
the  holy  ministry  in  South  Carolina,  He  subsequently  made  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  Holy  LanJ,  was  employed  in  various  stations  in  the  dioceses  of  Bal- 
timore and  PhilaJelphia,  and  in  1822  returned  to  France  on  account  of  his 
htalth.  The  friendship  with  which  Archbishop  Cheverus  honored  him, 
ind..c:-d  him  to  make  Bordeaux  his  residence.  He  attended  the  illustrious 
Cardinal  on  his  death-bed,  and  departed  this  life  liimself,  at  Bordeaux,  on 
the  16th  of  December,  1843,  reduced  almost  to  indigence  by  his  inexhaust- 
ible charities.  He  effected  numerous  cojiversions  at  Bordeaux  :  among 
others,  that  of  'Mr.  Strolel,  the  American  Consul,  who  is  now  a  pri<?st  in 
»he  diocese  of  Ph'ladelpl.ia.— White's  Life  of  Mrs.  Seton,  246,  505.  Lis* 
of  Priests  ordainei  at  Baltimore. 


86  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

order.  The  Abbe  Flaget,  about  sailing  for  France,  was  intrusted 
with  the  negotiation,  and  found  the  mother  house  at  Paris  much 
disposed  to  welcome  with  open  arms  the  Sisters  of  Emmitsburg. 
Sister  Mary  Byseray  repaired  to  Bordeaux  in  1810,  in  order  to 
sail  to  Baltimore  ;  but  the  imperial  go  rernment  threw  obstacles 
in  her  way,  and  refused  the  necessary  passports.  Mrs.  Seton^s 
community  was,  nevertheless,  increasing ;  in  1812  it  numbered 
twenty  Sisters,  and  at  this  period  elections  were  first  held  for  the 
ofiices  in  the  house.  The  Superiorship  naturally  devolved  on  the 
venerable  foundress,  and  she  filled  it  till  her  death  with  equal 
mildness  and  firmness.  In  1814,  a  colony  of  the  Sisters  of  Em- 
mitsburg went  to  Philadelphia,  to  take  charge  of  the  Orphan 
Asylum.  In  1817,  the  Bishop  of  New  York  invited  them  also  to 
that  city,  to  gather  the  Catholic  orphans.  The  mother  house 
of  St.  Joseph's,  Emmitsburg,  contained  the  novitiate,  and  a 
boarding-school  for  girls,  which  soon  became  very  flourishing. 

All  the  members  of  Mrs.  Seton's  family  were  not  equally  hostile 
to  her  new  state.  Two  of  her  sisters-in-law.  Misses  Cecilia  and 
Henrietta  Seton,  proceeded  to  Emmitsburg,  drawn,  they  believed, 
by  the  desire  of  seeing  their  relative,  and  breathing  the  country 
air.  But  they  were  soon  to  be  enlightened  by  grace,  and  by  the 
example  of  Mrs.  Seton's  sanctity,  and  not  only  embraced  the  true 
faith,  but,  undeterred  by  the  poverty  and  privations  of  a  new 
establishment,  both  took  the  veil  as  novices  at  St.  Joseph's. 
Their  faith  was  soon  rewarded,  and  both  expired  in  the  course 
of  the  year  1810.  Mrs.  Seton  had  also  the  affliction  of  closing 
the  eyes  of  two  of  her  daughters,  the  eldest,  Annina,  who  had 
also  taken  the  habit  as  a  Sister  of  Charity,  and  who  died  piously 
in  1812,  at  the  age  of  seventeen;  the  youngest,  Rebecca,  who 
also  aspired  after  the  moment  when  she  might  vow  herself  to 
God  and  the  poor,  and  who  yielded  up  her  fair  soul  in  1816,  at 
the  age  of  fouileen.  Human  sorrows,  therefore,  were  not  with- 
held from  Mrs.  Seton ;  but  she  had  th^  religious  consolation  of 


IN   THE    UNITFO   STATK3.  87 

Beeing  her  prayers  heard,  in  the  conversion  of  several  members 
of  her  family.  She  died  herself,  on  the  4th  of  January,  1821,  at 
the  age  of  forty-seven  ;  and  her  prayers  for  her  kindred  ai-e. 
doubtless,  still  more  powerful  with  the  Almighty,  since  she  sees 
him  face  to  foce.  Her  nephew,  James  Roosevelt  Bayley,  at  fiist  an 
Episcopalian  minister,  then,  at  the  sacrifice  of  wealth  and  fortune, 
a  Catholic  priest,  is  now  Bishop  of  Newark  ;  her  godchild,  the 
danghter  of  Bishop  Hobart,  and  wife  of  Dr.  Ives,  lately  Protestant 
Episcopal  Bishop  of  North  Carolina,  followed  her  husband's 
example,  and  recently  became,  at  Rome,  a  convert  to  the  true 
faith.* 

The  third  daughter  of  the  holy  widow.  Miss  Catharine  Seton, 
took  the  veil  at  New  York  in  April,  1849,  in  the  Order  of  the 
Sisters  of  Mercy,  and  recalls  by  her  virtues  the  example  of  her 
pious  mother. 

On  Mother  Seton's  death  her  community  numbered  fifty.  The 
Sisters  of  Charity  of  Emmitsburg  have  constantly  increased,  and 
severnl  hundred  sisters  now  occupy  in  the  United  States  and 
the  British  Provinces  numerous  establishments,  orphan  asylums, 
hospitals,  boarding-schools,  or  residences.  Except  those  in 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Nova  Scotia,  who  still  adhere  to  the 
dress  and  rules  of  Mother  Seton,  the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the 
United  States  have  recently  formed  a  union  with  those  in  France, 
and  on  the  25th  of  March,  1850,  assumed  the  habit  worn  by  the 
French  Sisters,  renewing  their  vows  according  to  the  formula 
adopted  in  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  of  Paul.  The  Emmitsbuig 
community  forms  a  province  of  the  order,  with  an  ecclesiastic  as 
Superior,  and  a  visiting  Superioress.  Those  in  New  York  form  a 
distinct  body,  approved  by  the  Holy  See,  and  have  a  mother- 
house  and  novitiate  at  Mount  St.  Vincent's,  on  the  Hudson.  They 


*  Life  of  Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Seton,  by  the  Ecv.  Charles  I.  White.  New  York, 
1853.  Memoirs  of  Mrs.  S****,  written  by  lierself.  Elizabethtown,  181'J: 
published  without  the  authority  of  Mrs  Seton. 


88  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

number  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight,  and  Mre  scattered  in  ovei 
twenty  hospitals,  asylums,  and  schools  for  rich  and  poor.* 

These  communities  are  not  inferior  in  zeal  and  charity  to  the 
Sisters  of  Charity  in  France  or  elsewhere,  and  have  often  been  the 
theme  of  Protestant  eulogy .f 

The  Bishop  of  Baltimore  seconded  with  all  his  eiforts  the 
foundation  of  these  pious  communities,  and  frequently  visited 
Emmitsburg  on  important  solemnities,  the  taking  of  the  habit,  re- 
newal of  vows,  or  consecration  of  chapels. 

In  his  hfe,  we  will  not  omit  one  fact  which  has  long  since  led 
to  much  discussion.  In  1803,  Jerome  Bonaparte,  a  brother  of 
Napoleon,  came  to  the  United  States,  in  a  French  frigate,  and 
spent  some  time  here.  Meeting  Miss  Patterson,  a  Protestant 
lady,  in  Baltimore,  he  became  greatly  attached  to  her,  and  asked 
her  hand  in  marriage.  A  day  was  fixed,  but  it  was  deemed  pru- 
dent to  delay  it  for  two  months,  and  then  Bishop  Carroll  himself 
performed  the  ceremony. 

On  Jerome's  return  to  France  the  wrath  of  the  emperor  burst 
upon  him  and  his  wife,  and  the  latter  was  compelled  to  return  to 
Maryland.  A  son  was  the  issue  of  this  marriage,  and  is  really 
the  lawful  heir  of  Jerome.  Napoleon  saw  this  and  sought  to  an- 
nul the  marriage.  He  accordingly  apphed  to  Pope  Pius  VII.  on 
the  24th  of  May,  1805.  "By  our  laws,"  says  he,  "the  marriage 
is  null.  A  Spanish  priest  so  far  forgot  his  duties  as  to  pronounce 
the  benediction.  I  desire  from  your  holiness  a  bull  annulling  the 
marriage.  It  is  important  for  France  that  there  should  not  be  a 
Protestant  young  woman  so  near  my  person." 

Several  of  these  statements  were  untrue,  but  the  Pontiff  was 


*  The  Sisters  of  Charity  in  Kentucky  are  of  a  ditferent  foundation,  as  we 
shall  see.    The  Sisters  of  Providence  at  Burlington  are  also  Sisters  of  Charity. 

t  The  coinmunity  of  Sisters  of  Charity,  servants  of  the  sick  poor,  wera 
founded  at  Paris  in  1633  by  Madame  Le  Gras  and  by  St.  Vincent  of  Paid.  It 
now  comprises  over  nine  hundred  Sisters  in  six  hundred  establishments 


IN     J  HE    L'>;iTEl)    STATES.  89 

not  to  be  deceived.  In  his  reply  on  the  23d  of  June,  the  Pontifl 
examines  and  discusses,  each  in  its  turn,  the  several  causes  for 
nii^lity  put  forward  by  the  emperor.  He  refutes  them  all,  and 
declares  ihht  none  of  them  can  invalidate  the  marriage,  and  con- 
cludes :  "  We  may  not  depart  from  the  laws  of  the  Church,  by 
pronouncing  the  invalidity  of  a  marriage  which,  according  to  the 
declaration  of  God,  no  human  power  can  dissolve.  Were  Ave  to 
usurp  an  authority  which  is  not  ours,  we  should  render  ourselves 
guilty  of  a  most  abominable  abuse  of  our  sacred  ministry  before 
the  tribunal  of  God  and  the  whole  Church." 

In  spite  of  this  decided  answ^er  Napoleon  returned  to  the  point, 
and  plied  entreaties,  menaces,  and  commands,  but  all  in  vain ; 
and  if  the  marriage  was  ever  declared  null,  or  another  performed, 
it  was,  by  the  Pontiff's  decision,  all  illegal.* 

Bishop  Carroll  had,  moreover,  the  consolation  of  seeing  the 
mimber  of  Catholics  increased  considerably  by  immigration  from 
Europe,  and  also  by  conversions.  Every  priest  to  whom  he  could 
Hssign  a  post  immediately  beheld  a  Catholic  population  spring  up 
around  him,  which  would  have  continued  to  live  aloof  from  the 
practice  of  religious  duties  as  long  as  it  had  no  priest  near  to  bring 
them  to  mind.  In  1806  the  prelate  laid  the  corner-stone  of  three 
churches  in  Baltimore  alone.  In  1808  he  counted  in  his  diocese 
sixty-eight  priest?  and  eighty  churches,  and  the  progress  of  reli- 
gion made  him  urgently  request  at  Rome  the  division  of  the 
United  States  into  several  bishopiics.  Pope  Pius  VII.  yielded  to 
the  desires  of  the  venerable  founder  of  the  American  hierarchy, 
and  by  a  Brief  of  April  8th,  1808,  Baltimore  was  raised  to  the 
rr.nk  of  a  Metropolitan  See,  and  four  suffragan  bishoprics  were 
erected  at  New  Yori:,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  and  Bardstown.  On 
the  recommendation  of  Bishop  Carroll,  the  Abbe  Chevsrus  was 
Darned  to  the  See  o^  Boston,  and  the  Abbe  Flaget  to  that  of 


90  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Bardstown.  Both  had,  for  over  twelve  years,  evangehzed  the 
districts  over  which  they  were  called  by  the  Supreme  Pontift'  to 
exercise  episcopal  jurisdiction.  The  Rev.  Michael  Egan,  of  the 
Order  of  St.  Francis,  was  appointed  to  the  See  of  Philadelphia, 
and  Father  Luke  Concanen,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  to  that 
of  New  York.  The  latter  resided  at  Rome,  and  held  the  posts  of 
Prior  of  St.  Clement's  and  Librarian  of  the  Minerva.  He  took  a 
lively  interest  in  the  American  missions,  and  it  was  at  his  sugges- 
tion that  a  Dominican  convent  was  founded  in  Kentucky  in  1805. 
He  had  already  refused  a  mitre  in  Ireland,  but  he  could  not  re- 
sist the  orders  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  who  sent  him  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  the  New  World ;  and  he  accordingly  received  episcopal 
consecration  at  Rome  on  the  24th  of  April,  1808,  at  the  hands  of 
Cardinal  Antonelli,  Prefect  of  the  Propaganda. 

The  new  bishop  travelled  at  once  to  Leghorn,  and  subsequently 
to  Naples,  where  he  hoped  to  find  a  vessel  bound  to  the  United 
States.  He  bore  the  pallium  for  Archbishop  Carroll  and  the 
bulls  of  ^institution  for  the  three  new  bishops.  The  French  au- 
thorities, then  in  possession  of  Naples,  opposed  his  departure,  and 
detained  him  as  a  prisoner,  although  he  had  paid  his  passage. 
The  pretext  of  these  vexations  was  that  Bishop  Concanen  was  a 
British  subject.  The  prelate  could  not  escape  the  rigors  of  the 
police,  and  died  suddenly  in  July,  1810,  poisoned,  it  would  seem, 
by  persons  who  wished  to  get  possession  of  his  effects  and  the 
sacred  vessels  ^phich  it  was  known  he  had  with  him.* 

This  premature  death  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  Church  in 
America,  and  caused  the  utmost  grief,  as  new  evils  menaced  the 
Vicar  of  Christ  himself.  When  Pius  VII.  decreed  the  creation  of 
the  Archbishopric  of  Baltimore,  a  French  army  occupied  Ron:e ; 
not,  as  now,  to  befriend  and  protect,  but  to  seize  the  Papal  States 
and  extort  from  the  Supreme  Pontiff  concessions  incoinpatible 

*  Sketch  of  the  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  New  York,  by  the  Eev. 
J.  R.  Bayley,  New  York,  1858,  p.  53. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  91 

With  the  existence  of  the  Church.  In  spite  of  the  difficulties  of 
the  times,  the  Holy  Father  was  organizing  the  Episcopate  in 
America  at  the  very  moment  when  the  troops  of  General  Miollis 
menaced  him  in  his  palace.  But  when  the  new  Bishop  of  New 
York  died  at  Naples,  Pius  VII.  was  no  longer  at  Rome  to  provide 
for  the  vacancy,  or  see  that  the  bulls  of  the  other  bishops  reached 
their  destination.  He  himself  had  been  dragged  off  from  the 
Quirinal  on  the  night  of  the  6th  of  July,  1809,  by  General  T>a- 
det's  gendarmes,  and  carried  as  a  piisoner  first  to  Grenoble  and 
Avignon,  then  to  Savona.  Archbishop  Carroll  and  his  clergy 
immediately  consulted  as  to  means  of  communication  with  the 
persecuted  Pontiff,  and  the  steps  to  be  taken  to  avoid  being  de- 
ceived by  any  pretended  letters.  Owing  to  these  delays,  the  bulls 
of  April  8,  1808,  reached  Baltimore  only  in  September,  1810, 
and  then  by  the  way  of  Lisbon.  They  were  immediately  put  in 
execution.  Bishop  Egan,  first  Bishop  of  Philadelphia,  was  conse- 
crated on  the  28th  of  October;  Bishop  Cheverus,  first  Bishop  of 
Boston,  on  the  1st  of  November  ;  and  finally,  Bishop  Flaget  re- 
ceived episcopal  consecration  on  the  4th  of  November,  1810. 
At  this  last  ceremony  Bishop  Cheverus  delivered  the  sermon,  and 
eloquently  addressed  Archbishop  Carroll  as  the  Elias  of  the  New 
Law,  the  father  of  the  clergy,  the  guide  of  the  chariot  of  Israel  in 
the  New  World :  "  Pater  mi.  Pater  mi,  currus  Israel  et  auriga 
ejus."  He  extolled  the  merits  of  the  Society  of  St.  Sulpice,  to 
which  Bishop  Flaget  belonged,  citing  the  various  testimonies 
given  in  its  honor  at  different  times  by  the  assemblies  of  the 
clergy  of  France,  aiid  the  phrase  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  Fene- 
lon  on  his  death-bed,  "  at  that  moment  luhen  man  no  longer  flat- 
ters ;"  "  I  know  nothing  more  venerable  or  more  apostolical  than 
the  Congregation  of  St.  Sulpice." 

The  Archbishop  of  Baltimore  might  now  repose  in  his  gloricaia 
age,  and  await  with  security  the  moment  when  God  should  call 
him  to  the  reward  of  his  labors.     He  had  commenced  the  mia« 


92  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

istry  in  America  when  Catholicity  was  persecuted  there,  and  a 
few  poor  missionaries  alone  shared  the  toils  and  perils  of  tho  apos- 
tleship.  He  now  beheld  the  United  States  an  ecclesiastical  pro- 
vince, and  in  his  own  diocese  he  had  established  a  seminary, 
collepjes,  and  convents;  had  created  religious  vocations  and 
founded  a  national  clergy.  Louisiana,  vrith  its  Episcopal  See,  its 
convent  and  clergy,  had  also  been  added  to  the  United  States, 
and  was  now  confided  to  one  of  his  clergy  as  its  prelate. 

Yet  the  trials  of  the  Church  in  Europe,  the  prolonged  imprison- 
ment of  Pius  VIL,  filled  with  bitterness  the  last  years  of  the  holy 
and  aged  prelate.  Archbishop  Carroll  lived  long  enough  to  see 
peace  restored  to  the  Church ;  and  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
Holy  Father,  on  returning  to  Rome  in  1814,  was  to  name  to  the 
See  of  New  York,  vj^cant  since  the  death  of  Bishop  Concanen, 
Father  John  Connolly,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  Prior  of  St. 
Clement's.  His  promotion  completed  the  hierarchy  of  the  United 
States.  Soon  after,  the  patriarch  of  that  church,  humbly  begging 
to  be  laid  on  the  ground  to  die,  expired  on  the  3d  of  December, 
1815,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  and  his  death  was  lamented,  not  only 
by  Catholics,  but  also  by  the  Protestants,  who  respected  and  ad- 
mired the  archbishop,  and  mourned  his  death  as  a  public  loss. 

In  person,  Archbishop  Carroll  was  commanding  and  dignified. 
His  voice  was  feeble,  and  he  was  accordingly  less  fitted  for  the 
pulpit;  but  his  discourses  are  models  of  unction  and  classical  taste. 
He  was  a  profound  theologian  and  scholar,  and  in  conversation 
possessed  unusual  charm  and  elegance.  As  a  prelate  he  was 
eminent  for  learning,  mildness,  yet  a  strict  exactness  in  the  ru- 
brics and  usages  of  the  Church.  His  style,  terse  and  elegant,  was 
generally  admired ;  but  of  his  works,  we  have  only  his  contro- 
versy with  Wharton,  his  Journal,  and  some  sermons  and  pastoral 
letters. 


IN  TUE   UNITED   STATES.  93 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

DIOCESE    OF   BALTIMORE (1815-1828). 

Most  Rev,  Leonard  Neale,  second  ArchbisJiop — Most  Eev.  Ambrose  Mar6chal,  third 
Archbishop— DiQiculties  of  bis  administration— Progress  of  Catholicity— Bishops  &~ 
pointed  for  New  Orleans,  Charleston,  Richmond,  *nd  Cincinnati— Labors  of  the  Sul- 
pitians— Death  of  Archbishop  Marechal. 

On  the  death  of  the  first  Archbishop  of  Baltimore  in  1815,  the 
United  States  contained  only  eighty-five  priests,  and  of  this  num- 
ber forty-six  were  in  the  Metropolitan  diocese.*  Archbishop 
Leonard  Neale  was  almost  seventy  years  old  when  he  was  left 
alone,  burdened  with  the  Episcopacy,  and  painful  infirmities  de- 
prived him  of  the  strength  which  he  would  have  needed  for  his 
high  functions.  We  have  recounted  the  apostolic  labors  of  the 
missionary  and  coadjutor.  After  braving  the  climate  of  Guiana 
and  the  yellow  fever  of  Philadelphia,  Bishop  Neale  was  to  bear 
in  his  glorious  old  age  the  marks  of  his  toil,  and  he  sought  re- 
pose for  his  last  days  near  the  monastery  of  the  Visitation,  which 
he  had  founded  at  Georgetown.  Yet  when  his  health  permitted, 
and  on  solemn  occasions,  he  appeared  at  Baltimore,  and  devoted 
himself  with  constant  care  to  the  administration  of  his  vast  dio- 
cese. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  1816,  the  American  Church  met  with  a 
severe  loss  in  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Nagot,  whose  name  is 
identified  with  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,  and 
whom  St.  Sulpice  will  ever  revere  as  one  of  her  most  distinguished 
men.     Of  his  arrival  and  labors  in  founding  the  seminary  and 

*  MSS.  of  the  late  Bishop  Brute  of  Vincennes. 


94  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

college  at  Baltimore  we  have  already  spoken.  He  was  boni  at 
Tours  on  the  19tli  of  April,  1734,  and  after  a  careful  education 
at  the  hands  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  entered  the  Congregation  of 
St.  Sulpice,  and  for  a  time  taught  divinity  at  Nantes.  Ill  health 
compelled  his  return  to  Paris,  where  he  directed  the  Little  and 
subsequently  the  Great  or  Theological  Seminary.  His  time  was 
devoted  not  merely  to  the  duties,  but  also  to  the  exercise  of  good 
works.  In  America  he  formed  the  noblest  of  our  early  clergy, 
and  labored  zealously  among  the  French  Catholics.  A  paralytic 
attack  and  subsequent  infirmities  compelled  him  in  1810  to  re- 
sign his  post  as  Superior,  a  step  which  he  had  long  sought  to 
take.  Eminent  as  a  confessor  and  a  preacher,  he  was  a  model  oi 
poverty  and  humility.  As  a  writer,  he  was  the  author  of  the 
well-known  "  Tableau  General  des  principales  conversions,"  and 
of  a  Life  of  Mr.  Olier,  the  venerable  founder  of  St.  Sulpice,  as  well 
as  of  a  French  translation  of  the  Catholic  Christian,  Butler's 
Feasts  and  Fasts,  and  many  of  Bishop  Hay's  excellent  works, 
which,  as  is  usual  with  the  followers  of  Mr.  Olier,  all  appeared 
anonymously.* 

The  death  of  this  aged  and  holy  clergyman  warned  the 
archbishop  to  consolidate  the  great  work  of  his  life,  and  Dr. 
Neale,  immediately  on  his  accession,  had  presented  to  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff  a  petition  requesting  power  to  establish  a 
monastery  of  the  Visitation  at  Georgetown,  enjoying  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  religious  houses  of  the  Institute. 
Pius  VII.  approved  the  motives  of  this  petition  in  1816,  and 
the  venerable  archbishop  had  thus  the  consolation  before  dying 
of  instituting  the  Sisters  at  Georgetown  as  a  regular  community 
of  the  order  founded  by  the  holy  Bishop  of  Geneva  and  St.  Jana 
Frances  de  Chantal.     This  crowned  his  career  on  earth. 

He  again  proved  his  paternal  attachment  to  these  holy  reli- 

*  Laity's  Directory  for  1822,  p.  129. 


USr  THE    UNITED   STATES.  95 

gious,  by  giving  them  as  director  a  priest  full  of  zeal,  the  Abb6 
Cloriviere,*  nephew  of  the  celebrated  Jesuit  of  that  name,  and  les.r 
known  in  France  as  a  priest  than  as  a  royalist  chief  under  the 
name  of  Limoelan. 

Joseph  Pierre  Picot  de  Limoelan  de  Cloriviere  belonged  to  a 
noble  family  in  Brittany,  was  born  at  Broons,  November  4th, 
1168,  and  was  a  schoolfellow  of  Chateaubriand.  He  was  an  offi- 
cer in  the  army  of  Louis  XVI.  when  the  revolution  broke  out. 
He  embraced  with  ardor  the  Vendean  cause,  was  made  a  Cheva- 
lier of  St.  Louis  in  1800,  and  became  a  Major-general  under 
George  Cadoudal.  Implicated  at  Paris  in  the  affair  of  the  infer- 
nal machine  of  the  3d  Nivose,  against  the  life  of  the  First  Consul 
Limoelan  escaped  only  by  a  kind  of  miracle  from  the  pursuit  of 
the  police,  and  after  being  long  concealed  in  Brittany,  he  resolved 
to  emigrate  to  America.  Affianced  to  a  young  lady  of  Versailles, 
he  wrote  to  the  family  before  embarking,  to  ask  his  intended  to 
proceed  to  the  United  States  to  celebrate  their  marriage.  The 
lady,  however,  replied  that  at  the  period  when  Limoelan  was  in 
the  greatest  danger,  she  had  made .  a  vow  of  celibacy  if  her  affi- 
anced should  escape,  and  she  courageously  sacrificed  her  most 
tender  affections  to  be  faithful  to  the  promise  which  she  had  made 
to  Heaven.  The  young  officer  was  enlightened  in  turn  by  this 
example,  and  he  entered  the  seminary  at  Baltimore  in  1808.f 
Ordained  in  1812,  De  Cloriviere  was  the  eighteenth  ecclesiastic 
who  came  from  that  Sulpitian  establishment,  which  has  rendered 
such  service  to  the  Church  in  America.  Archbishop  Carroll,  ap- 
preciating the  consummate  prudence  and  merit  of  De  Cloriviere, 


*  The  Georgetown  MSS.  say,  however,  that  he  was  appointed  Director  by 
Archbishop  Marechal. 

+  St.  Beuve  made  Limoelan  figure  in  his  romance  "  Vohipte,"  but  so  dis- 
torted his  character  and  misinterpreted  his  conduct  as  to  provoke  an  an 
sv/er  from  the  family.  The  young  lady  to  whom  he  had  been  betrothed  was 
Mile.  Jenne  d' Albert.  She  did  not,  however,  complete  the  sacrifice,  as  h« 
had  done,  by  consecrating  herself  to  God  in  the  religious  state. 


96  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Bent  him  immediately  to  Charleston  to  resist  the  usurpation  of 
power  by  the  laity  in  that  city.  The  Breton  priest  displayed  no 
less  energy  than  conciliation  in  the  most  difiBcult  circumstances, 
and  after  some  years  of  effort,  succeeded  in  reforming  inveterate 
abuses.  Called  then  to  direct  the  nuns,  he  displayed  the  qualities 
essential  to  his  new  position,  and  he  became  in  a  m^ar^ure  the 
second  founder  of  the  Visitation.  Before  leaving  the  su^rject,  we 
may  make  our  closing  remarks  on  the  Order  in  which  he  took 
so  lively  an  interest.  In  spite  of  all  efforts,  the  fouodation  of 
Alice  Lalor  was  not  shielded  from  new  trials.  In  1824  its  finan- 
cial embarrassments  were  so  great,  and  the  poverty  of  the  com- 
munity was  so  extreme,  that  they  came  to  the  sad  resolution  of 
dispersing.  But  God  came  to  their  aid  at  the  very  moment  when 
the  Sisters  had  courageously  made  up  their  minds  to  the  sacrifice. 
A  wealthy  Spanish  merchant  in  New  York,  the  late  John  B.  La- 
sala,  sent  two  of  his  daughters  to  the  Visitation  school,  paying 
several  years'  board  in  advance.  This  timely  aid  enabled  them 
to  await  the  assistance  which  Mr.  De  Cloriviere's  generosity  pre- 
pared for  them.  He  had  ordered  his  property  in  Brittany  to  be 
Bold,  in  order  to  give  the  proceeds  to  the  Visitation.  The  trans- 
action met  with  delay,  but  he  was  at  last  able  to  carry  out  his 
projects,  and  he  now  built,  at  his  own  expense,  the  academy,  and 
the  elegant  chapel  dedicated  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus.  He 
also  contributed  by  his  donations  to  the  establishment  of  the  free 
school  for  girls. 

"  The  happiness  of  the  Sisters  in  possessing  so  good  a  spintual 
father  was  not  to  last.  Mr.  Cloriviere  had  greatly  contributed  to 
the  glory  of  God,  and  it  now  remained  for  God  to  glorify  him  in 
his  turn.  He  had  placed  the  community  in  a  flourishing  state, 
and  had  done  all  in  his  power  to  promote  its  success.  He  was 
attacked  with  apoplexy,  and  did  not  long  survi\e  the  stroke.  He 
retained  the  use  of  his  senses,  and  requested  that  they  would 
bury  him  in  the  middle  of  the  vault,  and  raise  over  his  bodj  a 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  97 

tomb,  which  would  serve,  at  the  burial  of  the  Sisters,  as  a  resting- 
place  for  the  coffin  whilst  the  funeral  ceremony  was  performed. 
He  had  during  life  been  of  service  to  the  Sisters,  and  wished  to 
be  so  even  after  death."* 

Thus  died,  in  1826,  the  Rev.  Mr.  De  Cloriviere,  lea\'ing  a 
memory  still  in  veneration,f  and  in  his  person  expired  one  of 
those  holy  French  priests  who  may  be  classed  ^.mong  the  found- 
ers of  the  Church  in  the  United  States. J; 

After  his  death,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wheeler,  of  Baltimore,  became 
the  spiritual  director  of  the  Visitation,  a^'.d  ere  long  he  made  a 
voyage  to  Europe  for  the  good  of  that  cvmrnunity.  The  George- 
town Sisters,  constantly  fearing  that  they  were  remiss  in  the 
exact  observance  of  their  vrle,  as  ta\ght  by  St.  Francis  de  Sales 
and  St.  Frances  de  Chantal,  never  abandoned  the  design  of  having 
among  them  some  nuns  full  of  the  spirit  and  traditions  of  the 
communities  in  France  and  Savoy.  Mr.  Wheeler  succeeded  in 
his  mission,  and  in  August,  1829,  brought  back  with  him  Sister 
Mary  Agatha  Langlois,  of  Mans,  Sister  Magdalen  d'Areges,  of 

*  MSS.  of  the  Visitation,  communicated  by  the  venerable  Mother  Mary 
Augustine  Cleary,  Superioress  in  1854. 

t  By  his  will  he  condemned  to  the  flames  the  voluminous  memoirs  which 
he  had  written  on  the  events  in  which  he  had  taken  so  active  a  part  in 
France.  This  clause  was  faithfully  executed  at  his  death,  and  in  an  historical 
point  of  view  is  to  be  regretted.  Mother  Cleary  recollects  that  Mr.  De  Clo- 
rividre  showed  her  the  bundles  containing  the  memoirs,  telling  her  that  at 
the  end  of  every  year  he  sealed  the  account  of  the  year,  and  never  opened  it 
again ;  and  he  added  that  they  contained  much  of  interest  both  to  history 
and  to  religion. 

X  Bishop  England's  Works,  iii.  253.  Peter  Joseph  Picot  de  Cloriviere, 
the  uncle  of  the  former,  was  born  at  St.  Malo  in  1735,  and  entered  the  novi- 
tiate of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  1756,  was  detained  a  prisoner  by  Napoleon 
from  1804  to  1809,  was  Superior  of  the  Jesuits  on  the  re-estaV-lishment  of 
the  Society  in  1814,  and  died  at  Paris  in  1824.  In  1790  and  1809,  Bishop 
Carroll,  who  was  very  intimately  connected  with  Father  De  Cloriviere, 
pressed  him  to  come  to  America,  but  the  Father  thought  that  he  could  do 
more  good  in  France  and  in  Paris  itself,  even  during  the  Keign  of  Terror. 
From  the  similarity  of  names,  we  may  infer  that  the  nephew  was  a  godson 
of  the  uncle. 

6 


OS  ^HE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Ffibovrg',  and  Sister  Mary  Regis  Mordant,  of  Valence.  These 
three  nuns  remained  three  years  at  Georgetown,  and  then  re- 
turned to  France,  seeing  by  the  religious  spirit  reigning  in  the 
corL:aiunity,  and  by  the  exact  observance  of  the  rules,  that  their 
presence  was  no  longer  necessary. 

On  the  9th  of  September,  1846,  the  nuns  had  the  affliction  of 
losing  their  venerable  foundress,  known  in  religion  under  the 
name  of  Mary  Theresa. 

"  When  she  was  informed  that  the  doctor  judged  her  in  danger 
of  death,  she  with  a  heavenly  expression  exclaimed,  '  Glory  be  to 
God  !'  She  had  no  other  wish  than  that  the  will  of  God  should 
be  accomplished,  and  concluding  that  the  information  implied  the 
Divine  v>^ill,  she  rejoiced  at  the  news.  The  good  odor  of  edifica- 
tion she  had  invariably  difi'used  around  her  became  now  stronger. 
It  was  with  sentiments  of  peculiar  veneration  the  Sisters  ap- 
proached her  bedside.  To  dwell  upon  her  virtues  would  be  to 
make  the  eulogy  of  virtue.  Suffice  it  then  to  say  that,  like  the 
aurora,  they  increased  till  they  reached  meridian  splendor.  Her 
pure  spirit  was  freed  from  the  prison  of  the  body  to  wing  its  flight 
to  the  realms  above.     May  our  death  be  like  to  hers."* 

The  Order  of  the  Visitation  now  comprises  nine  houses  in  the 
United  States,  all  founded  directly  by  the  mother  house  at 
Georgetown,  except  those  at  Wheeling  and  Keokuk.  In  these 
they  have  day  and  boarding  schools  for  young  ladies,  as  well  as 
day-schools  for  the  poor.  The  education  received  in  their  insti- 
tutions is  remarkably  good,  and  the  foundation  of  Miss  Lalor  has 
been  an  immense  service  to  America. 

We  have  thus  followed  to  our  times  this  glory  of  Archbishop 
Neale.     Foreseeing  his  approaching  end,  that  holy  prelate  had  in 


*  T^o  are  indebted  for  these  precious  details  to  manuscripts  furnished  us 
Dy  the  venerable  Mother  Mary  Augustine  Cleary,  to  whom  we  here  express 
cur  gratitude  for  the  interest  she  has  taken  in  our  labors  and  the  aid  which 
she  has  afforded. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  99 

1815  petitioned  tlie  Sovereign  Pontiff  to  associate  to  liim  in  the 
administration  of  his  diocese  Bishop  Cheverus  of  Boston,  with  a 
right  of  succession  to  the  See  cf  Baltimore.  Pius  VII.  consented, 
but  wished  first  lo  know  how  he  was  to  replace  Bishop  Cheverus 
at  Boston.  Archbishop  Neale  invited  the  latter  to  Baltimore  to 
confer  wdth  him  on  the  intentions  of  the  Holy  Father,  but  Bishop 
Cheverus  no  sooner  discovered  the  motive  than  he  begged  to  be 
left  at  Boston.  He  strongly  urged  the  archbishop  to  take  in 
preference  a  coadjutor,  and  named  several  Jesuits  and  Mr.  Mare- 
chal,  a  priest  of  St.  Sulpice.  He  also  wrote  on  the  subject  to  the 
Congregation  "  de  propaganda  fide  :" 

"  The  Church  of  Boston  has  become  to  me  a  beloved  spouse, 
and  I  have  never  had  a  thought  of  abandoning  her.  It  is  the 
universal  belief,  as  well  as  my  own,  that  the  Catholic  religion 
would  suffer  gTeat  injury  by  my  removal  and  the  appointment  of 
1  new  bishop,  who  would  be  unacquainted  with  and  unknown  to 
the  diocese,  however  superior  his  merits  to  mine.  Baltimore  has 
many  priests  worthier  than  I  am  (I  say  it  from  the  bottom  of  my 
soul  and  before  God),  especially  among  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  whose 
excellent  qualities,  whose  piety,  zeal,  and  indefatigable  labors  are 
beyond  all  praise.  The  seminary  of  Baltimore  also  offers  men  of 
truly  apostolical  character,  two  of  whom  have  already  been  raised 
to  the  Episcopacy,  and  are  the  delight  and  glory  of  the  Church 
in  the  United  States.  I  earnestly  pray,  therefore,  that  some  one 
more  w^orthy  than  myself  may  be  chosen  for  the  coadjutorship  of 
Baltimore."* 

Archbishop  Neale  at  last  yielded  to  his  friend's  wishes,  and  on 
the  refusal  of  several  Jesuits,  he  asked  the  Holy  See  to  appoint 
Mr.  Marechal  as  his  coadjutor.  As  soon  as  Bishop  Cheverus 
knew  this  decision  he  wrote  to  Rome,  asking  to  remain  at  Boston. 

*  Life  of  Cardinal  Cheverus,  by  llic  P>3V.  J.  Huen  Dubourg.  Phil.  1839; 
p.  106.  This  is  i.anslnted  by  Kobert  Wabh,  Esq. ;  but  the  real  author  s  the 
Kev.  Mr.  Hamoii,  a  Sulpitian,  as  appears  by  later  French  editions. 


100  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCK 

"  I  shall  rejoice  to  see  Mr.  Marfichai  performing  tlie  Episcopai 
functions  at  Baltimore,  where  he  and  his  brethren  of  St.  Sulpice 
have  been  the  masters  and  models  of  the  clergy,  and  have  con- 
ciliated universal  regard.'"' 

Pius  VII.  approved  the  new  arrangement,  and  by  a  brief  ol 
July  24,  181 7,  he  appointed  Mr.  Ambrose  Marechal  coadjutor  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  with  the  title  of  Bishop  of  Stauro- 
polis.  But  before  the  date  even  of  the  brief,  Archbishop  Neale 
had  sunk  under  his  infirmities.  He  died  at  Georgetown,  on  the 
15th  of  June,  181*7,  and  his  mortal  remains  were  laid  in  the  con- 
vent chapel  of  the  Visitation,  where  they  still  remain.  "  Thus," 
says  his  biographer,  "thus  in  death  was  he  placed  where  his 
affections  were  strongest  in  hfe ;  and  thus,  in  the  last  honors  to 
his  mortal  remains,  was  preserved  a  parallel  to  the  last  sad  tribute 
to  St.  Francis  of  Sales.  The  body  of  Archbishop  Neale  sleeps 
under  the  chapel  of  the  convent  founded  by  him  in  America ; 
that  of  St.  Francis  under  the  church  of  the  convent  which  he 
founded  in  Europe.  Annecy  has  her  saint ;  so  may  we  hope  that 
Georgetown  has  hers."* 

Before  his  death  Archbishop  Neale  had  the  satisfaction  of 
learning  that  a  bishop  had  been  consecrated  for  New  Orleans,  and 
that  the  reorganization  of  that  diocese  presaged  better  days  for 
the  Church  in  the  United  States.  A  See  had  been  founded  in 
1793  at  the  capital  of  Louisiana,  then  a  Spanish  province,  and 
the  diocese  had  been  intrusted  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  Luis  Peiialver  y 
Cardenas,  who  administered  it  from  1795  to  1801 ;  but  as  that 
colony  changed  masters  three  times  in  three  years,  great  disorders 
ensued  in  the  ecclesiastical  administration,  and  Archbishop  Car- 
roll, canonically  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  the  vacant 
See,  could  afford  only  an  imperfect  lemedy  to  the  evils  of  that 
church.     The  captivity  of  the  Holy  Father  frustrated  all  hopes  oi 

*  Notice  on  the  Most  Rev.  Leonard  Neale,  by  M.  C.  Jeniilns,  in  tha  Qutia 
olic  Magaaue  for  1844,  p.  612. 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  101 

any  definitive  arrangement,  and  then  what  authority  could  be 
exercised  by  the  bishops  of  Baltimore  o'.er  a  city  a  thousand 
miles  off?  The  Abbe  Dubourg,  a  priest  cf  St.  Sulpice  at  Balti- 
more, had  been  appointed  in  1812  adminiatrator  of  New  Orleans. 
At  last  the  pacification  of  the  Church  and  cf  Euror>e,  in  1815,  per- 
mitted the  Holy  Father  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  that  distant  See, 
and  Mr.  Dubourg  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  New  Orleans  on  the 
28th  of  September,  1815,  at  the  capital  of  the  Christian  world.* 

The  bulls  appointing  Archbishop  Marechal  did  not  reach  Bal- 
timore till  the  10th  of  November,  1817,  five  months  after  the 
death  of  his  venerable  predecessor,  and  he  was  consecrated  on  the 
14th  of  December  following,  by  Bishop  Cheverus  of  Boston. 
Ambrose  Marechal,  thus  raised  to  the  primacy  of  the  American 
Church,  was  born  at  Ingre,  near  Orleans,  in  1*768.1  When  he 
had  completed  his  classical  course,  Le  felt  a  vocation  for  the  eccle- 
siastical state,  but  his  family  opposed  his  designs  so  warmly  that 
he  at  first  yielded  to  their  desires,  and  began  the  study  of  law, 
intending  to  practise  at  the  bar.  The  young  advocate  soon 
found,  however,  that  he  was  called  to  a  far  different  life,  and  after 
having  shown  all  due  deference  to  his  family's  wishes,  at  last  en- 
tered the  Sulpitian  Seminary  at  Orleans.  The  persecutions  of 
revolutionary  France  did  not  shake  his  resolution,  but  he  resolved 
to  depart  from  a  land  that  martyred  its  faithfu'  clergy,  and  he 
embarked  at  Bordeaux  for  the  United  States,  with  the  Abbes 
Matignon,  Richard,  and  Ciquard.  It  was  on  the  very  eve  of  his 
embarkation  that  the  young  Abbe  Marechal  was  privately  or- 
dained, and  such  were  the  horrors  of  those  unha  py  times,  that 
he  was  even  prevented  from  saying  Mass.  He  celebrated  the 
Holy  Sacrifice  for  the  first  time  at  Baltimore,  where  he  arriveoi 


*  Life  of  the  Et.  Ecv.  B.  J.  Flaget,  by  M.  J.  Spalding,  Bishop  of  Louis- 
Tille.     Louisville,  1852,  p.  166. 

+  "We  adopt  the  date  given  in  American  biographies  of  the  prelate.  The 
Annals  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  iv.  224,  give  as  the  date  the}  ear  176"*. 


102  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

with  his  companions  on  the  24th  of  June,  1'792.  It  was  Mr 
Emery's  intention  to  open  at  Baltimore  an  academy  for  mathe- 
matical sciences,  and  Mr.  Marechal  was  thought  of  as  one  of  the 
professors ;  but  this  project  having  been  abandoned,  the  young 
priest  was  successively  sent  as  missionary  to  St.  Mary's  county 
and  to  Bohemia.  In  1799  he  was  called  to  functions  more  in 
harmony  with  his  vocation  as  a  Sulpitian,  and  became  professor 
of  theology  at  the  seminary  in  Baltimore.  He  was  soon  after 
sent  to  teach  philosophy  in  the  Jesuit  college  at  Georgetown,  and 
then  returned  to  Baltimore  to  continue  his  courses  of  theology,  in 
which  he  displayed  no  less  science  than  talent.  After  some 
years,  however,  the  seminary  was  deprived  of  the  services  of  its 
eloquent  professor.  Religious  affairs  in  France  having  assumed  a 
brighter  aspect,  the  Superior  of  St.  Sulpice  recalled  the  Abbe 
Marechal  to  aid  him  in  rec'cramTlng  and  directing  several  houses 
of  the  Society.  Obedienca  here  was  easy,  as  it  wafted  him  back 
to  his  native  shores.  Mr.  Mgjschal  f.ccordingly  arrived  in  France 
m  July,  1803,  and  was  employed  with  distinction  in  several  ec- 
clesiastical institutions,  especially  at  St.  Flour,  Lyons,  and  Aix. 
Those  who  studied  under  him  always  preserved  the  deepest  ven- 
eration, a  proof  of  which  exists  in  the  rich  present  sent  him  by 
the  priests  of  Marseilles,  when  they  learned  his  elevation  to  the 
Episcopacy.  It  consists  of  a  superb  marble  altar,  which  still 
adorns  the  cathedral  in  Baltimore,  and  which  by  its  inscription 
recalls  the  gratitude  and  affection  of  scholars  for  their  master.* 

*  The  inscrip*^ion  is : 

Hoc  Altare 

A  Massiliensibus  Sacerdotibus 

Ambr.  Archiepo.  Bait. 

Eorum  in  Sacra  Theologia  olim  Professori 

Grate  oblatum 

Ipse  Deo  Salvatori  in  houorem  ejus  Sanctissimao 

Matris 

Consecravit  die  31a  Maii  1821. 

Ssd  E^etch  in  Catholic  Almanac  for  1836.    U.  S.  Cath.  Mag.  for  1845,  p.  8i 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  103 

Meanwhile  his  American  friends  wrote  constantly,  expressin-J 
regret  for  his  absence,  and  reminding  him  of  the  good  he  micht 
still  be  doing  in  Baltimore.  When,  therefore,  the  imperial  gov- 
ernment, in  1812,  took  from  the  Sulpitians  the  direction  of  the 
Seminaries,  the  learned  professor  yielded  to  the  entreaties  of  his 
friends,  and  re-embarked  for  the  United  States.  He  at  once  re- 
sumed his  old  functions  at  St.  Mary's  Seminary,  and  was  for  a 
time  President  of  the  College.  This  life  of  study,  so  akin  to  his 
taste,  was  not,  however,  to  last;  and  in  1816  he  was  informed 
of  his  nomination  hy  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  to  the  see  of  Phila- 
delphia. In  vain  did  he  endeavor  to  escape  these  honors  :  it  was 
only  to  have  far  greater  imposed  upon  him  by  pontifical  authority. 
He  alleged  the  importance  of  leaving  him  at  his  studies,  at  least 
till  the  completion  of  a  theological  work  adapted  to  the  religious 
condition  of  the  United  States.  But  the  Church  chose  to  employ 
his  merit  in  more  eminent  functions,  and  Mr.  Marechal  consented 
to  become  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

The  earlier  days  of  his  administration  were  thick  sown  with 
trials  of  the  most  painful  character.  The  Catholics  in  the  United 
States,  living  amid  a  Protestant  population,  and  influenced  by 
the  surrounding  ideas  of  independence,  have  not  always  shown 
the  subordination  ever  to  be  desired  towards  pastors.  The 
temporal  administration  of  the  churches  is  the  source  of  constant 
collisions ;  and  the  laity,  seeing  the  manner  in  which  the  Protest- 
ant churches  are  managed,  too  frequently  usui-p  powers  not  their 
own.  Archbishop  Marechal  had  thus  to  struggle  with  a  spirit 
of  insubordination  and  faction,  which  threatened  to  result  in  an 
open  schism.  In  this  difficult  position,  the  prelate  displayed  that 
zeal,  that  prudence,  that  devotion  to  his  flock,  that  firm  adherence 
to  true  principles,  which  have  ever  characterized  great  bishops, 
and  which  eventualTy  checked  the  progress  of  the  disorder,  under 
which  the  cause  of  religion  threatened  to  sink.  His  pastoral  in 
1819  showed  the  extent  of  the  evil  and  the  wisdom  of  the  remedy. 


104  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

It  laid  down  with  preciseuess  tlie  reciprocal  rights  and  duties  of 
the  clergy  and  laity  ;  it  shows  the  entire  inaptitude  of  the  lattei 
to  interfere  in  the  spiritual  government  of  the  Church,  and  points 
out  to  the  priests  the  calamities  which  would  afflict  religion,  if 
they  neglected  the  obligations  of  their  sacerdotal  character.  Il 
maintains  the  exclusive  right  for  the  episcopal  authority,  of  ap- 
pointing priests  to  parishes  and  for  other  duties,  and  concludes  ir 
these  words  :  "  In  the  midst  of  the  troubles  and  persecutions  to 
which  you  are  now,  or  may  hereafter  be  exposed,  be  careful,  aftei 
the  example  of  the  Saints,  dearest  brethren  daily  to  entreat  witt 
fervor  your  heavenly  Father,  to  take  under  his  special  protection 
yourselves,  your  families,  your  fiiends,  your  pastors,  and  all  the 
Catholics,  of  the  United  States.  The  Church  of  Christ  in  this 
country  is  now  in  affliction.  Dissensions  and  scandals  threaten 
to  destroy  her  peace  and  happiness.  As  for  you,  dear  brethren, 
strive  to  console  her  by  every  possible  mark  of  respect,  attach- 
ment, obedience,  and  love ;  for  though  surrounded  with  difficul- 
ties, though  even  attacked  by  some  unnatural  children,  still  she 
is  your  mother,  your  protectress,  your  guide  on  earth,  and  the 
organ  by  which  Divine  mercy  communicates  to  you  the  treasure 
of  Kis  grace,  and  all  the  means  of  salvation.*" 

Other  obstacles,  of  a  more  personal  character,  added  to  the 
burdens  of  the  episcopate,  in  the  case  of  Archbishop  Marechal. 
Yet,  his  administration  was  not  without  its  consolations,  not  the 
least  of  which  was  the  continued  success  and  permanent  establish- 
ment of  Mount  St.  Mary's  seminary  and  college.  Of  this  hive 
of  the  American  clergy — for  it  has  given  the  Church  many 
archbishops  and  bishops,  and  a  large  pioportion  of  our  most 
zealous  and  useful  priests — we  must  now  treat,  f 

The  Rev.  John  Dubois,  of  whom  we  shall  hereafter  speak  more 
at  length,];  was  stationed,  in   1808,  at  Frederick,  and  once  a 

*  U.  S.  Catholic  Magazine  for  1845,  p.  36. 

t  Metropolitan.  Vol.  iv.  410.  t  Pages  161,  897. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES  105 

month  celebrated  the  holy  sacrifice  in  the  private  chapel  of  Aloy- 
sius  Elder,  Esq.,  as  his  predecessors  had  done  for  many  years 
The  better  days,  however,  now  justified  the  erection  of  a  church, 
and  the  zealous  priest  began  to  erect,  near  Emmetsburg,  a  church, 
on  a  rising  ground,  which  he  named  Mount  St.  Mary's.  A  church 
did  not  satisfy  his  zeal,  he  sought  also  to  found  a  school,  which 
should  furnish  caadidates  for  holy  orders ;  and,  in  all  humility, 
began  his  labors,  to  carry  out  the  idea  which  he  had  conceived. 
Purchasing  a  log-hut  near  the  church,  he  opened  his  school,  in 
1808,  and  having,  in  the  following  year,  joined  the  Sulpitians,  he 
received  the  pupils  of  their  estaolijhment  at  Pigeon  Hill.  His 
little  log-hut,  and  a  small  brick-house  in  thr  neighborho^J,  no 
longer  sufficed,  so  that  he  purchased  the  presc-nt  site  of  the  col- 
lege, and,  erecting  suitable  buildings,  resigned  his  log-cabin  to 
Mother  Seton,  who  made  it  the  cradle  of  her  order. 

The  first  college  at  the  mountain  was  but  a  row  of  log-cabins, 
themselves  the  work  of  several  years'  toil,  for  the  founder  had 
but  little  means.  Yet  all  joined  in  his  labors,  and,  by  their  uni- 
ted eff"orts,  grounds  were  cleared,  gardens  and  orchards  planted, 
and  roads  cut.  In  spite,  however,  of  these  disadvantages,  the 
well-known  ability  of  Mr.  Dubois  drew  papils  to  his  rural  school, 
though  the  payment  in  kind  often  corresponded  to  the  style  rather 
than  to  the  wants  of  the  establishment.  And  the  school,  though 
strictly  Catholic,  increased,  so  that  its  ever  cheerful  and  laborious 
president  could  not,  in  1812,  have  had  less  than  sixty  pupils 
under  his  care.  Of  his  associates  in  the  foundation,  none  de- 
serves a  higher  praise  than  one  whom  Catholics  have  learned  to 
style  the  sainted  Brute,  whose  name  is  no  less  indissolubly  united 
to  Mount  St.  Mary's  than  to  Vincennes,  of  which  he  died  bishop. 
Removed,  for  a  time,  to  St.  Mary's  Seminary,  in  Baltimore,  Mr. 
Brute  returned  to  the  Mountain  in  1818,  and,  opening  the  class 
of  theology,  made  the  establishment  a  seminary  as  well  as  a  col- 
lege, thus  giving  it  the  present  form  and  its  present  stability 

5* 


lOo  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

By  this  time,  toj,  pupils  had  become  teachers,  and  the  Rev 
Roger  Smith,  Nicholis  Kerney,  Alexius  Elder,  George  Elder, 
•bunder  of  St.  Joseph's  at  Bardstown,  and  William  Byrne,  foun- 
der of  St.  Mary's,  in  the  same  State  ;  Charles  Constantine  Pise, 
John  B.  Purcell,  now  Archbishop  of  Cincinnati,  John  Hughes, 
now  Archbishop  of  New  York,  with  his  former  coadjutor,  the 
Bishop  of  Albany,  all,  with  many  another  priest  and  prelate, 
taught,  in  their  younger  days,  the  classes  at  the  Mountain. 

Mr.  Brute's  talents,  during  the  next  sixteen  years  which  he 
spent  here,  availed  the  institution  not  only  as  a  professor :  as  a 
treasurer,  his  method  and  system  extricated  it  from  many  pe- 
cuniary embarrassments,  and  placed  matters  in  a  secure  shape. 

So  complete  had  been  the  success,  and  so  promising  were  now 
their  hopes,  that  Dr.  Dubois,  soon  after  the  separation  from  the 
Sulpitians,  in  1819,  resolved  to  erect  a  stone  edifice  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  his  pupils.  This  work  Archbishop  Marechal  ap- 
proved and  encouraged.  Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of  1824,  a 
handsome  building,  of  three  stories  high,  and  ninety-five  feet  by 
forty  in  extent,  was  raised  on  the  mountain ;  but,  just  as  all  were 
preparing,  at  Whitsuntide,  to  enter,  to  their  grief  and  regret  it 
was  fired  by  accident  or  design,  and,  in  a  few  hours,  nothing  re- 
mained but  a  mass  of  smoking  ruins.  Undaunted  by  this  disas- 
ter, which  Doctor  Pise  has  embalmed  in  our  memories  in  classic 
verse,*  Dr.  Dubois  at  once  began  the  erection  of  a  new  and 
grander  college.  Great  were  the  trials  it  imposed  upon  him  and 
the  companions  of  his  labors,  but,  aided  by  the  generous  contri- 
butions of  the  neighbors,  and  of  Catholics  in  various  parts,  the 
great  work  was  completed,  just  as  the  illustrious  founder  was 
called  to  occupy  the  see  of  New^  York,  in  1826. 

The  Rev.  Michael  de  Burgo  Egan,  a  nephew  of  the  first  bishop 
of  Philadelphia,  now  became  president  of  his  Alma  Mater ;  but 

*  Metropolitan,  Vol.  iv.  p.  575. 


m   THE    UNITED   STATES.  107 

his  health  was  feeble,  and  could  not  second  his  piety  and  zeal.  A 
voyage  to  Europe  failed  to  restore  him,  and  he  died  at  Marseilles, 
leaving  the  Society  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  which  he  founded,  to 
be  the  monument  of  his  gentle  virtue. 

The  present  eminent  Archbishop  of  Cincinnati,  the  Most  Rev. 
John  B.  Purcell,  was  the  next  president,  and  to  his  exertions  it 
owes  no  little  of  its  present  distinction.  He  obtained  for  the  col- 
lege a  charter  of  incorporation  from  the  Legislature,  and,  import- 
ing costly  apparatus,  established  all  that  was  needed — classes  of 
the  natural  sciences.  The  commencements  of  the  institution, 
which  date  from  this  period,  are  always  attended  with  interest, 
and  prove  the  ability  with  which  it  has  been  dir':!oted  by  the 
Rev.  Francis  B.  Jameson,  the  Rev.  Thomas  R.  Butler,  and  by 
its  later  piesidents.* 

While  the  illustrious  Dubois  was  consolidating  a  work  so  im- 
portant to  his  diocese,  Archbishop  Marechal  was  still  more  con- 
soled by  the  increase  of  Catholics,  and  by  the  numbers  whom  the 
clergy  found  in  sections  where  they  least  expected  to  meet  any. 

It  will  not  be  useless  to  define  here  in  what  this  increase  of  the 
Catholic  population  consists,  of  v/hich  we  rn  ist  render  an  account 
periodically  in  each  diocese,  and  which  has  made  it  necessary  to 
multiply  the  bishops  from  one  to  forty  in  the  space  of  sixty 
years.  The  immigration,  chiefly  from  Ireland,  scattering  over  the 
country,  presented  on  all  sides  little  congregations  ready  for  a 
pastor.  When  he  came.  Catholics,  or  the  children  of  Cathohcs 
who  had  almost  lost  the  faith  in  the  absence  of  religious  teachers, 
gathered  around,  and  converts  came  silently  dropping  in,  chiefly, 
however,  from  the  more  enlightened  classes.  The  mass  of  the 
American  people  have  not  been  reached.  In  vain  did  Thayer 
and  the  Barbers,  in  early  times,  and  other  eminent  converts 
since,  present  the  faith  to  their  countrymen  ;    the  number  of 


108  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

those  wlio  listen  or  examine  is  extremely  small.  To  save  tLe 
scattered  Catholics  and  their  children  is,  and  will  be  for  a  time, 
the  great  eSbrt  of  the  limited  number  of  the  clergy. 

The  vast  extent  of  the  diocese  of  Baltimore  now  called  for  a 
division,  and  in  1818  the  Rev.  Robert  Browne,  an  Irish  Augusti- 
nian,  who  had  been,  for  many  years,  a  missionary  at  Augusta,  in 
the  State  of  Georgia,  proceeded  to  Rome,  bearing  a  petition  from 
the  Catholics,  soliciting  the  erection  of  a  new  diocese,  to  comprise 
the  States  of  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia ;  for  though 
few  and  scattered,  the  Catholics  were  so  remote  from  the  episco- 
pal See,  that  their  interests  were  unavoidably  neglected. 

The  Holy  See  examined  the  question  with  its  usual  maturity, 
and  resolved  to  erect  Virginia  into  a  diocese  of  which  Richmond 
should  be  the  episcopal  See,  and  the  two  Carolinas  and  Georgia 
into  another,  the  bishop  of  which  should  reside  at  Charleston. 
To  the  latter  See  the  Holy  Father  appointed  the  Rev.  John  Eng- 
land, pastor  of  Brandon,  in  the  diocese  of  Cork,  who  was  already 
favorably  known  in  the  United  States.  Of  this  diocese,  under 
his  able  rule,  we  shall  elsewhere  speak.  Of  the  progress  of  reli- 
gion in  those  States  prior  to  his  appointment,  a  few  words  will 
suffice.  Catholic  emigrants,  at  an  early  day,  settled  at  North 
Carolina,  and  as  early  as  1737  are  said  to  have  had  a  priest  at 
Bathtown,  on  the  Pimlico,  around  which  they  lay  chiefly.* 

At  the  Revolution,  however,  these  seem  to  have  disappeared, 
and  few  Catholics  could  be  found  in  the  States  where  the  Catho- 
lic Church  was  so  early  planted. 

A  French  priest  accompanied  some  fugitives  from  St.  Do- 
mingo towards  the  close  of  the  century,  and  other  priests,  among 
whom  we  may  note  the  Rev.  Dr.  O'Gallagher,  the  opponent  of 
Wharton,f  and  Father  Brown,  first  labored  among  the  other 
Catholics. 

t  See  p.  374-5. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  109 

Vii-giaia  was  allotted  by  the  Holy  Father  to  the  care  of  the 
Rev.  Patrick  Kelly,  then  president  of  Birchfield  College,  near 
Kilkenny.  That  prelate  was  accordingly  consecrated  and  came 
to  America  in  1821.  Here  he  found  nothing  prepared  to  receive 
him,  and  Archbishop  Marechal  opposed  to  the  separate  adminis- 
tration of  the  newly  erected  diocese.  As  the  Archbishop  had 
already  written  to  Rome  to  urge  his  views,  Dr.  Kelly  remained 
at  Norfolk,  laboring  zealously  on  the  mission,  and  directing  a 
school  which  he  had  opened.  When  the  Holy  See  at  last  as- 
sented to  the  request  of  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  Dr.  Kelly, 
now  appointed  to  the  united  sees  of  Waterford  and  Lismore,  re- 
turned to  Ireland,  and  directed  the  two  dioceses  till  his  death,  on 
the  8lh  of  October,  1829. 

The  diocese  of  Richmond,  thus  erected  in  1821,  continued  to 
be  administered  by  the  Archbishops  of  Baltimore  for  twenty 
yeai-s,  nor  did  any  bishop  sit  in  Richmond  till  1841,  when  the 
first  bishop  of  Wheeling  was  appointed  to  the  see. 

While  the  extensive  diocese  of  Baltimore  was  thus  subdivi- 
ded, Bishop  Flaget,  of  BMvdstown,  was  also  soliciting  at  Rome  tlie 
division  of  his;  and  by  his  Bull  of  June  19th,  1821,  Pius  VII. 
founded  the  See  of  Cincinnati,  and  called  to  it  Father  Edward 
Fenwick,  a  Marylander,  and  long  a  Dominican  missionary  in 
Kentucky.  The  new  bishop  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Flaget, 
January  13th,  1822,  at  St.  Rose's  Convent,  Kentucky;  and  thus, 
at  the  commencement  of  1822,  the  United  States  were  divided 
into  nine  dioceses,  viz. : 

1.  Baltimore,  com.prising  Maryland  and  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia. 

2.  Boston,  comprising  the  six  New  England  States. 

3.  New  York,  comprising  the  State  of  New  York  and  half  of 
New  Jersey. 

4.  I*HiLADELPHiA,  compiising  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and 
half  of  New  Jersey. 


110  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

5.  Bardstown,  comprising  Keatiiuky  and  Tennessee. 

6.  Charleston,  comprising  the  two  Carolinas  and  Georgia. 

7.  Richmond,  comprising  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  adminis 
tered  by  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

8.  Cincinnati,  comprising  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  Northwest 
Territory. 

9.  New  Orleans,  comprising  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  and  Mis- 
somi. 

Archbishop  Marechal  had  the  consolation  of  opening  for  divine 
worship  the  cathedral  of  Baltimore,  which  had  been  begun  by 
Archbisliop  Carroll  eighteen  years  before.  On  the  31st  of  May, 
1821,  this  beautiful  church  was  solemnly  dedicated,  and  its  By- 
zantine architecture,  though  not  a  model  of  taste,  is  not  destitute 
of  grandeur  in  its  proportion.  Its  situation  on  the  summit  of  a 
pyramidal  hill,  on  which  the  houses  of  the  city  are  built,  gives  to 
Baltimore  the  aspect  of  an  entirely  Catholic  city,  where  the 
cathedral  towers  above  all  the  other  monuments,  as  in  our  Euro- 
pean cities.  The  archbishop  obtained  in  France  numerous  pres- 
3nts,  a  painting  and  vestments,  with  which  he  adorned  the  temple 
that  he  had  raised.  Archbishop  Marechal  could  here  display  all 
the  pomp  of  our  worship,  being  aided  by  the  Sulpitians  of  the 
seminary,  who  had  preserved  all  the  traditions  of  the  ceremonial, 
Nothing  is  more  desirable  than  thus  to  surround  religion  with 
the  dignity  which  is  its  noblest  apanage.  The  poverty  of  the 
sanctuary,  or  their  narrow  precincts,  too  often  deprives  the  faith- 
ful in  the  United  States  of  the  most  imposing  solemnities.  The 
absence  of  ceremonies  likens  our  churches  to  the  coldness  of  secta- 
rian halls,  but  the  pomp  of  worship,  while  it  revives  the  faith  of 
Catholics,  produces  a  salutary  impression  on  such  of  our  separated 
brethren  as  witness  it.  Nothing  is,  then,  more  desirable  than  to 
see  large  churches  multiplied  in  the  United  States,  and  Arch- 
bishop Marechal  was  one  of  the  first  to  appreciate  the  advantage 
which  religion  might  derive  from  them. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  ll'. 

The  Society  of  St.  Sulpice,  wliicli  was  initiating  the  American 
clergy  in  the  study  of  theology  as  well  as  in  the  rubrics  and  cere- 
monial, at  one  time  assumed  a  great  development  in  the  United 
States.  At  Baltimore  they  had  directed,  since  1 791,  the  seminary 
and  the  college  of  St.  Mary's;  in  1806,  the  Abbe  Dillet  founded, 
at  Pigeon  Hills  in  Pennsylvania,  a  college  intended  to  give  a  re- 
ligious education  to  boys  whose  piety  and  qualities  seemed  to  show 
a  decided  vocation  for  the  priesthood.  No  scholar  was  received 
except  on  the  recomiTiendation  of  his  confessor.  In  1809  the 
Abbe  Dubois  founded,  near  Emmitsburg,  the  seminary  and  college 
of  Mount  St.  Mary's,  and  affiliated  himself  to  the  Society  of  St. 
Sulpice,  in  order  to  carry  on  this  double  establishment.  But  in 
1819  the  Sulpitians  resolved  to  limit  their  sphere  of  action,  and 
Mount  St.  Mary's  ceased  to  be  under  their  superintendence.  They 
also  suppressed,  in  1852,  their  college  of  St.  Mary's,  replaced, 
however,  by  Loyola  College,  a  new  institution  of  the  Jesuits.  At 
the  present  moment,  St.  Sulpice  directs  only  two  establishments 
in  the  United  States — St.  Mary's  Seminary,  which  numbers 
twenty-three  theologians,  and  the  Preparatory  Seminary  of  St. 
Charles,  which  contains  forty-two  scholars.  This  latter  institution 
is  within  a  few  miles  of  Baltimore,  offering  greater  advantages 
than  Pigeon  Hills,  which  it  superseded  in  1849.  These  twc 
houses,  as  well  as  the  seminary  of  Montreal,  maintain  a  close 
union  with  the  Society  in  Paris,  and  visitors  are  sent  from  Fraace 
at  short  intervals.* 

Archbishop  Marechal  had  the  consolation  of  seeing  miraculous 
cures  effected  in  his  diocese  by  the  prayers  of  Prince  Alexander 

*  St.  Mary's  Seminary  has  had  only  four  Superiors  in  half  a  century  : 
1791,  Francis  Nagot;  ISIO,  John  Tessier  ;  1S33,  Deluol  ;  1849,  Franci^i 
Lhomme.  The  Superior  is  always  a  Vicar-general.  St.  Mary's  College  has 
had  among  its  celebrated  Presidents— 1804,  Dubourg,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
New  Orleans  ;  1818.  Brute,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Vincennes ;  1829,  Eccleston, 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  Baltimore;  1834,  Chanehe,  Bishop  of  Natchez. 
Mount  St,  Mary's  retained  Mr.  Dubois  as  President  from  1809  to  182G.     On 


112  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Holienlolie,  and  he  might  hope  that  God  had  regarded  witl  a 
favorable  eye  the  Church  in  Amenca,  to  whioh  such  favors  were 
reserved.  On  the  10th  of  March,  1824,  Mrs.  Anne  Mattingly,  at 
the  point  of  death,  given  up  by  physicians,  was  suddenly  cured  on 
the  last  day  of  a  novena  which  she  had  undertaken  in  conformity 
with  the  directions  of  the  holy  prince.  The  fame  of  this  extraor- 
dinary cure  was  immense,  for  it  took  place  at  Washington,  the 
capital  of  the  United  States,  of  which  city  her  brother  was  mayor 
at  the  time.  Her  cure  was  perfect,  and  she  lived  thirty  years 
after  it,  dying  only  in  1855. 

The  miraculous  cure  of  a  Visitation  nun,  at  Georgetown,  took 
place  soon  after,-  and  these  two  events,  supported  by  the  most  au- 
thentic and  most  respectable  testimony,  exercised  a  considerable 
influence  in  bringing  many  Protestants  to  study  the  Catholic 
dogmas. 

Archbishop  Marechal  went  to  Rome  in  the  latter  part  of  1821, 
to  lay  the  state  of  his  diocese  before  the  Sovereign  Pontiff.  In 
1826  he  visited  Canada,  whither  the  interests  of  religion  led  him, 
for  he  shrank  from  no  fatigue  at  the  call  of  duty.  But  the  cruel 
pangs  of  a  dropsy  in  the  chest  soon  condemned  him  to  absolute 
repose.  He  bore  the  pains  of  a  long  illness  with  Christian  cour- 
age, and  died  on  the  29th  of  Januaiy,  1828,  in  the  expectation  of 
a  blessed  immortality. 

his  appointment  to  the  See  of  New  York,  the  Eev.  Dehurgo  Egan,  an  alum- 
nus of  the  institution,  succeeded  him.  After  him,  Eev.  John  Purcell,  now 
Archbisliop  of  Cincinnati,  became  President. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  113 


CHAPTER   IX. 

DIOCESE    OF    BALTIMORE (1828-1829). 

IfostRev.  James  Whitfleld,  fourth  Archbishop  of  Baltimore— The  Oblates  of  St.  Frances 
and  the  colored  Catholics— The  Association  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith  and  the 
Leopoldine  Society — First  Provincial  Council  of  Baltimore,  and  a  retrospect  on  pre- 
vious synods  of  the  clergy. 

As  soon  as  Archbishop  Marechal  felt  the  first  symptoms  of  the 
disease  that  was  to  carry  him  off,  he  applied  to  the  Holy  See  for 
a  coadjutor  to  succeed  him  in  his  important  post.  The  name  of 
Dr.  James  Whitfield  was  the  first  on  the  list  of  persons  which  he 
submitted  to  the  choice  of  the  Holy  Father,  and  by  a  brief  of  the 
8th  of  January,  1828,  Leo  XH.,  acceding  to  the  archbishop's  re- 
quest, appointed  Dr.  Whitfield  coadjutor,  with  the  title  of  Bishop 
of  Apollonia,  in  partihus.  The  brief  did  not  arrive  until  after 
Archbishop  Marechal  had  expired,,  and  Dr.  Whitfield  was  conse- 
crated Archbishop  of  Baltimore  on  Whitsunday,  the  25th  of 
May,  1828.  The  venerable  Bishop  of  Bardstown,  Monseigneur 
Flaget,  was  the  consecrator,  and  he  was  so  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  his  august  functions,  that  on  Ascension  day  he 
began  a  retreat  with  the  archbishop  elect,  in  order  to  purify  his 
heart,  and  raise  his  soul  to  God,  in  preparation  for  the  great  act 
he  was  about  to  perform.  "This  Sunday  of  Pentecost  was  the 
most  grand,  the  most  august,  the  most  honorable  day  that  ever 
shone  on  the  Bishop  of  Bardstown."* 

James  Whitfield  was  born  at  Liverpool,  England,  on  the  od  oi 
November,  1*770,  and  belonged  to  a  very  respectable  mercantile 
family,  who  gave  him  all  the  advantages  of  a  sound  education 

*  Life  of  Bishop  Flaget,  by  M.  J.  Spalding,  Bishop  of  Louisville,  p.  262. 


114  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  lie  lost  his  father  and  became  the  sole 
protector  of  his  mother. 

In  order  to  dissipate  her  melancholy  he  took  her  to  Italy,  and 
after  spending  some  years  there  in  commercial  affairs,  'p^oung 
Whitfield  went  to  France,  in  order  to  pass  over  to  England.  It 
was  just  at  this  moment  that  Napoleon  decreed  that  every  Eng- 
lishman discovered  on  French  soil  should  be  retained  a  prisoner. 
James  Whitfield  spent  most  of  the  period  of  his  exile  at  Lyons, 
and  there  formed  an  acquaintance  with  the  Abbe  Marechal,  the 
future  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  then  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the 
seminary  of  St.  Irenseus,  at  Lyons.  The  young  man's  piety  soon 
disposed  him  to  embrace  the  ecclesiastical  state.  He  entered  the 
seminary  under  the  direction  of  his  learned  friend,  and  was  soon 
distinguished  for  his  ardor  as  a  student  and  for  his  solidity  of 
judgment.  He  was  ordained  at  Lyons  in  1809,  and  on  his 
mother's  death  returned  to  England,  where  he  was  for  some  time 
appointed  to  the  parish  of  Crosby.  When  the  Abbe  Marechal 
was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  he  wrote  to 
his  friend,  begging  him  to  come  and  share  the  cares  of  a  diocese 
whose  wants  were  so  great.  Mr.  Whitfield  yielded  to  the  desire 
of  his  old  tutor,  and  he  landed  in  the  United  States  on  the  8th  of 
September,  ISlY.  He  was  at  first  stationed  at  St.  Peter's  Church, 
Baltimore,  and  then  became  one  of  the  Vicars-general  of  the  dio- 
cese. In  1825,  by  a  special  indult  of  the  Court  of  Rome,  the 
archbishop  solemnly  conferred  on  Mr.  Whitfield  and  two  other 
eminent  clergymen  of  Baltimore  the  grade  of  Doctor  of  Divinity ; 
and  the  ceremony,  full  of  interest  for  Catholics,  was  hailed  by 
them  with  joy  as  the  commencement  of  a  faculty  of  theology  in 
America.  In  the  same  year  Archbishop  Marechal  approved  the 
religious  community  of  the  Sisters  Oblates  of  St.  Frances,  formed 
of  colored  women,  for  the  instruction  of  children  of  the  African 
race.  Dr.  Whitfield  took  a  deep  interest  in  this  foundation,  and 
seconded  the  efi'ort  of  Mr.  Joubert,  a  priest  of  St.  Sulpice,  who, 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  115 

seeing  so  many  little  negresses  plunged  in  the  deepest  ignorance, 
assembled  several  excellent  women  of  that  class  to  take  care  of 
these  children.  After  long  trials,  Mr.  Joubert  thought  that  he 
might  ask  the  archbishop  to  permit  them  to  take  vows.  Ap- 
proved on  the  5th  of  June,  1825,  they  were  also  recognized  at 
Rome  by  the  Holy  See  on  the  2d  of  October,  1831,  and  enjoyed 
all  the  privileges  and  indulgences  accorded  to  the  Oblates  at 
Eome.  "  The  Almighty  has  blessed  the  efforts  of  the  worthy 
Mr.  Joubert,"  wrote  Rev.  Mr.  Odin,  in  1834;  "there  are  already 
twelve  of  these  sisters ;  their  school  is  very  numerous,  piety  and 
fervor  reign  among  them,  and  they  render  great  services  to  reli- 
gion."* The  community  now  contains  fourteen  professed  sisters 
and  three  novices ;  they  keep  a  girls'  school,  with  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  scholars,  and  a  boys'  school,  with  fifty .f  This  is 
but  a  small  development,  and  the  good  to  be  done  among  the 
blacks  would  need  a  very  large  community.  But  the  clergy  has 
ntver  been  able  to  cope  with  the  work  before  them,  and  the  va- 
rious Archbishops  of  Baltimore  have  all  deplored  their  inability 
to  undertake  the  evangelization  of  the  blacks,  as  they  would  de- 
sire. "How  distressing  it  is,"  wi-ote  Archbishop  Whitfield,  in 
1832,  "to  be  unable  to  send  missionaries  to  Virginia,  where  there 
are  five  hundred  thousand  negroes !  It  is  indubitable  that  had 
we  missionaries  and  funds  to  support  them,  prodigies  would  be 

*  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  vii.  167.  Letter  of  Mr.  Odin, 
Lazarist,  now  Bishop  of  Galveston. 

t  The  Oblates  of  Kome  were  founded  by  St.  Frances  de  Buxo,  born  at 
Eome  in  1384.  Although  married,  she  assembled  some  pious  widows  and 
holy  young  women  in  community,  in  1433;  gave  them  the  rule  of  St.  Bene- 
dict, with  special  constitutions,  and  solicited  the  approval  of  Popy  Eugene 
IV.,  which  was  granted.  On  her  husband's  death  in  1436,  Frances  entered 
the  community  which  she  had  organized  ;  she  died  there  in  1440,  and  was 
canonize(JI%  Pope  Paul  V.  in  1608.  The  Oblates  of  Kome  do  not  take 
solemn  irows.  Their  numbers  are  generally  filled  up  from  the  most  distin- 
guished classes  of  society,  and  many  princesses  have  been  members  cf  the 
order,  while  their  sisters  in  America  are  taken  in  the  humblest  con  lltiox 
Such  is  the  equality  of  the  great  Christian  family  before  God. 


116  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

effected  in  this  vast  antl  untilled  field.  In  Maryland  bla(jks  ar« 
converted  every  day,  and  many  of  them  are  good  Catholics  and 
excellent  Christians.  At  Baltimore  many  are  frequent  communi- 
cants, and  three  hundred  or  four  hundred  receive  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  the  first  Sunday  of  every  month.  It  is  the  same 
throughout  Maryland,  where  there  are  a  great  many  Catholics 
among  the  negroes."*  Some  years  after,  Archbishop  Eccleston, 
fiuccessor  of  Archbishop  "Whitfield,  wrote,  in  1838:  "The  slaves 
present  a  vast  and  rich  harvest  to  the  apostolic  laborer.  I  do  not 
believe  that  there  is  in  this  country,  without  excepting  the  Indians, 
a  class  of  men  among  whom  it  is  possible  to  do  more  good.  But 
far  from  being  able  to  do  what  I  would  desire  for  the  salvation  of 
the  unhappy  negroes,  I  see  myself  unable  to  meet  the  wants  of 
the  thousands  of  whites,  who,  equally  deprived  of  the  succors  of 
religion,  feel  most  keenly  their  spiritual  abandonment."! 

This  sad  state  of  things  has  not  ceased  to  exist,  for  the  clergy 
are  still  far  too  few  to  devote  themselves  especially  to  the  con- 
version of  the  blacks.  There  are  many  negro  Catholics  in  Louisi- 
ana, Missouri,  Maryland,  and  New  York,  but  in  general  it  is  the 
fanaticism  of  "Wesley  that  is  preached  with  success  to  the  colored 
people,  and  a  part  of  the  slaves  follow  the  superstitious  practices 
of  that  sect,  while  a  large  number  preserve  the  gross  worship  of 
Fetichism.  We  cannot  but  express  our  wish  that  the  work  of 
the  worthy  Mr.  Joubert  may  obtain  a  wide'" extension,  and  that 
the  pious  Oblates,  of  whom  he  is  the  founder,  may  be  propagated 
in  all  directions,  in  order  to  bring  up  the  colored  children  in  the 
truths  of  Christianity, J 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Archbishop  Wliitfield's  administration 
was  the  ^dsitation  of  his  diocese,  which,  in  1828,  comprised  fifty- 

*  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  v.  722. 
t  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  x.  498. 

X  James  Hector  Joubert  was  born  at  St.  Jean  d'Angely,  September  6th, 
1777.     In  1801  he  went  to  St.  Domingo,  and  thence  to  Baltimore,  where  he 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  117 

two  priests  and  from  sixty  thousand  to  eighty  thousand  Catholics. 
This  visitation  showed  him  the  crying  wants  of  the  vast  district 
committed  to  his  care,  and  the  feeble  resources  which  he  could 
control  for  the  advancement  of  religion.  His  private  fortune  was 
considerable,  and  he  now  devoted  his  whole  income  to  building 
churches  and  establishing  useful  institutions.  Like  his  venerable 
predecessor,  he  invariably  appealed  for  aid  to  the  Association  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  and  by  the  returns  of  that  body 
from  1825  to  1834,  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore  received  thirty- 
two  thousand  francs.  There  was,  moreover,  a  certain  sum 
allotted  for  Mt.  St.  Mary's,  and  Louis  XVIII.  and  Charles  X. 
also  sent,  on  several  occasions,  offerings  to  their  Grand  Almoner 
for  the  diocese  of  Baltimore.  Still  the  Association  for  the 
Propagation  of  the"  Faith  showed  itself,  at  first,  especially  liberal 
to  the  dioceses  of  New  Orleans  and  Bardstown.  There  all  was 
to  be  created,  while  Maryland  offered  some  resources  to  her 
clergy. 

It  w-as  to  aid  the  missions  of  the  United  States  that  the  admi- 
rable Association  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith  was  established, 
and  for  this  reason  it  becomes  us  to  chronicle  its  rise. 

In  1815,  Bishop  Dubourg  of  New  Orleans,  returning  from 
Rome  after  his  consecration,  stopped  a  short  time  at  Lyons,  and 
preoccupied  in  mind  with  the  wants  of  his  diocese,  recommended 
it  warmly  to  the  charity  of  the  people  of  Lyons.  The  prelate 
spoke  especially  on  the  subject  to  a  pious  widow,  whom  he  had 
formerly  known  in  America,  and  imparted  to  her  his  idea  of 
founding  a  society  of  alms-givers  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  Louisi- 
ana.    For  several  ensuing  years  the  lady  merely  collected  such 


arrived  in  September,  1804.  He  soon  after  entered  St.  Mary's  Seminary, 
and  was  the  thirteenth  priest  ordained  in  that  Sulpitian  establishment.  He 
Bpent  the  remainder  of  bis  life  in  the  seminary,  fulfilling  with  zeal  the  func- 
tions to  which  he  was  called,  either  an  professor  or  as  vice-president  of  the 
eolkge. 


118  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

little  aid  as  she  could,  and  sent  it  to  Bishop  Diibouig;  but  ib 
1822,  a  Vicar-general  of  NTew  Orleans  ariived  at  Lyons  and  gave 
new  life  to  the  charity  of  the  benefactors  of  Louisiana.  They  had 
hitherto  failed  to  aid  sufficiently  one  single  mission,  yet  for  all 
that  they  resolved  to  aid  all  the  missions  in  the  world,  and  the 
principle  of  Catholicity  infused  into  the  new  work  drew  down 
upon  it  the  blessings  of  Heaven.  On  the  3d  of  May,  1822,  the 
feast  of  the  Finding  of  the  Holy  Cross,  twelve  persons  met  to- 
gether at  Lyons.  The  proceedings  began  by  invoking  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  a  priest  then  made  a  short  recital  of  the  sufferings  of  re- 
ligion in  America,  and  proposed  the  establishment  of  a  vast  asso- 
ciation to  furnish  pecuniary  resources  for  the  missions  of  the  whole 
world. 

The  assembly  unanimously  adopted  this  opinion,  naming  a 
president  and  committee  to  organize  the  association.  The  society 
soon  absorbed  another  modest  association,  established  in  1820, 
among  the  female  silk  operatives,  to  help  the  Christians  in  China. 
The  combined  eff"orts  had  the  results  which  the  partial  attempts 
had  never  dreamed  of  attaining.  The  receipt  of  the  first  May 
was  five  hundi'ed  and  twenty  francs ;  that  of  the  first  year  rose  to 
fifteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy-two  francs — over  three 
thousand  dollars. 

The  resources  of  which  the  Association  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Faith  now  disposes,  enable  it  to  distribute  annually  from 
three  million  to  four  million  of  francs— nearly  a  million  dollars — 
among  the  missions  of  the  five  great  divisions  of  the  world.*  Of 
this  sum  the  amount  allotted  to  the  bishops  of  the  United  States 
varies  from  one  hundred  thousand  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars.     From  1822  to  1853,  the  total  of  the  contributions 


*  We  have  drawn  these  statistics  from  the  annual  accounts  of  the  Society, 
made  successively  from  1822  to  1853.  A  writer  in  a  late  number  of  the  Me- 
tropolitan has  recently  done  the  same,  and  called  the  attention  of  the  Catho- 
Uc«t  of  America  to  this  debt  of  gratitude. 


IN   THE    UKITED    STATES.  119 

sent  to  missionaries  lias  amounted  to  fifty-one  million  and  ninety 
three  thousand  francs,  about  one  quarter  of  which  has  been  de- 
voted to  the  missions  in  the  United  States.  Who  can  tell  the 
number  of  churches  and  chapels  built  by  this  peasants'  and  oper- 
atives' penny  a  week — the  number  of  missionaries  whose  expen- 
sive voyages  it  has  paid — the  number  of  conversions  which  these 
missionaries  have  effected — or,  what  is  better,  the  number  of 
Catholics  saved  from  indifference  and  ultimate  apostasy — the 
numbers  on  numbers  enabled  by  their  ministry  to  live  a  Christian 
Hfe  and  escape  eternal  danmation  ?  The  history  of  the  Church 
in  the  United  States  is,  to  some  extent,  the  history  of  the  results 
obtained  by  this  association,  and  our  object  in  writing  is  to  stimu- 
late the  zeal  of  the  associates  and  increase  their  number.  As  our 
readers  follow  our  sketches  they  will  see  that  the  wants  are  daily 
greater,  and  that  the  ties  between  the  young  Church  of  America 
and  the  time-honored  Church  of  France  cry  aloud  for  a  perpetua- 
tion, not  in  a  view  of  earthly  fame,  but  for  the  greater  glory  of 
God.  The  first  martyrs  of  Maine,  New  York,  and  Ilhnois  came 
from  the  France  which  holds  the  ashes  of  Mary  Magdalene,  of 
Lazarus,  and  of  Pothinus.  Most,  too,  of  the  first  bishops  were 
natives  of  Francs  ;  and  after  aiding  the  United  States  to  achieve 
political  independence,  she  has  now  the  higher  glory  of  aiding 
her  for  the  last  thirty  years  to  extend  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
" Rex  regnantium  et  Dominus  dominantium" 

The  example  given  by  the  Association  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Faith  has  been  moreover  imitated  in  Germany.  The  Leo- 
poldine  Association,  formed  in  Austria,  has  for  its  sole  and  special 
object  the  support  of  the  American  missions.  It  was  established 
at  Vienna  on  the  15th  of  April,  1829,  at  the  time  of  a  visit  made 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Keze,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Detroit,  to  solicit  aid 
for  the  diocese  of  Cincinnati,  of  which  he  was  Vicar-general.  Its 
name  is  a  memorial  of  the  Archduchess  Leopoldine,  herself  by 
marriage  an  American  princess,  and  Empress  of  Brazil.     The 


120  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Archduke  Rudolph,  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Olmutz,  and  brother 
of  Francis  II.,  at  once  became  the  protector  of  the  association, 
and  in  inaugurating  it  pronounced  these  memorable  words :  "  It 
b»hooves  the  Church  of  France,  jealous  of  its  ancient  glories,  to 
narch  in  the  fervor  of  its  faith  ever  at  the  head  and  never  behmd 
/he  other  churches  of  the  world."  And  not  for  France  alone  do 
we  claim  this  glory.  In  the  extension  of  Christianity,  in  the 
propagation  of  truth,  the  Celtic  race  has  ever  led  the  way. 

The  Leopoldine  Association  spread  over  all  the  Austrian  States. 
By  1832  it  had  sent  to  the  United  States  over  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars,  which  had  been  distributed  among  the  dioceses  of 
Charleston,  Philadelphia,  Bardstown,  and  St.  Louis.  In  1834  the 
amount  sent  to  America  was  sixteen  thousand  dollars.  Of  the 
subsequent  labors  of  this  charitable  society  we  have  no  statistics, 
but  we  know  that  the  dioceses  in  which  the  German  immigra- 
tion has  centered  receive  abundant  aid  from  this  source.  The 
interest  which  it  has  excited  has  not  been  otherwise  fruitless. 
Future  historians  may  be  at  a  loss  to  explain  how  a  dictionary  of 
.he  Chippeway  language,  and  works  in  that  dialect,  came  to  be 
printed  at  Laybach,  in  Illyria ;  but  as  soon  as  we  learn  that  when 
the  government  of  the  United  States  refused  to  aid  the  Catholic 
missionary  to  print  these  works,  the  generosity  of  Austria  sup- 
plied the  necessary  funds,  we  can  at  once  explain  the  strange 
fact.* 

The  Catholic  bishops  in  the  United  States  had  long  desired  to 
assemble  in  Council,  in  order  to  adopt  regulations  as  to  ecclesias- 
tical discipline  and  the  administration  of  the  sacraments.  Obsta- 
cles, however,  of  various  kinds  prevented  their  meeting.  Arch- 
bishop Whitfield  undertook  to  remove  all  these  difiiculties,  and 
with  the  approbation  of  the  Holy  See,  had  the  satisfaction  of  con- 
voking his  colleagues  in  a  Provincial  Council,  the  opening  of 

*  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  vi,  179  ;  viii.  247.  Henrion,  Hi&- 
toire  Generale  des  Missions,  ii.  676.     Bishop  Baraga,  Chippewa  Dictionary. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  121 

wliich  was  fixed  for  the  4th  of  Oct/ber,  1829.  Till  then  there 
had  never  been  any  regular  conven  ion  of  the  American  clergy, 
except  the  Diocesan  Synod  of  1791  and  the  meeting  of  the  bish- 
ops in  1810;  and  before  speaking  ef  the  acts  of  the  Council  of 
1829,  we  will  state  briefly  what  took  place  in  the  two  previous 
assemblies.  The  Synod  of  1791  and  its  decisions  had  remained 
in  great  veneration  among  the  clt-rgy,  as  we  may  judge  by  the 
following  reflections  of  Mr.  Brute^  written  by  him  on  the  6th  of 
November,  1831,  while  preparing  the  questions  to  be  submitted 
to  the  Second  Council  of  Baltimo^-e : 

"We  must  read  over  the  Synr«d  of  1791  for  the  form,  and  its 
authority  will  be  a  good  direc'  :on.  In  every  line  you  see  the 
bishop.  In  all  you  see  how  muoh  he  has  consulted,  and  that  the 
spirit  of  faith,  charity,  and  zeal  has  in  that  first  assembly  served 
as  a  happy  model  for  its  successors.  Could  it  be  otherwise  in  an 
assembly  of  such  priests  under  Archbishop  Carroll !  Messrs.  Pel- 
lentz,  founder  of  Conewago  and  Lancaster ;  Molyneux  and  Flem- 
ing, Vicai-s  of  the  North  and  South,  as  Pellentz  was  of  the  whole 
diocese ;  Neale,  Plunkett,  Gressel,  Nagot^  Garnier,  etc. ;  the  cele- 
brated convert,  Mr.  Thayer,  etc.  Such  worthy  priests  immortalize 
this  Synod  with  a  blessing  of  union,  grace,  and  zeal,  which  will 
be  the  same  forty  years  after  ad  multos  iterum  annos,  or  rather 
for  much  more  frequent  meetings  of  Diocesan  Synods,  for  which 
this  will  ever  serve  as  a  model."* 

The  First  Council  of  Baltimore  in  1829  decided  that  the 
statutes  of  the  Synod  of  1791  should  be  printed  with  the  acts  of 
the  Council,  and  the  bishops  thus  gave  new  vigor  to  the  regula- 
tions of  that  Synod.  In  the  first  session,  held  on  the  7th  of  No- 
vember, 1791,  the  bishop  delivered  a  discourse  suited  to  the 
occasion,  after  which  the  members  made  a  profession  of  faith. 
At  the  second  session,  held  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  statutes 


Manuscript  of  Bishop  Brute  of  Vincennes. 
6 


122  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

were  passed  as  to  the  conditional  baptism  of  converts,  on  Laptisr 
mal  registers,  on  not  confirming  children  before  the  age  of  reason 
The  third  session,  which  took  place  on  the  8th,  took  up  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Eucharist;  it  treated  of  the  first  communion  of  chil- 
dren, of  decency  in  the  ceremonial,  of  the  ecclesiastical  dress,  of 
collections  and  trustees.  In  the  fourth  session,  on  the  9tb  of  No- 
vember, tbey  considered  the  sacrament  of  Penance ;  reminded  all 
of  the  necessity  of  an  approbation  for  priests,  and  forbid  them  to 
go  to  stay  in  other  places  than  those  where  they  w^ere  stationed. 
This  was  necessary,  as  some  priests,-  Germans  especially,  believed 
they  could  dispense  with  episcopal  institution  from  the  new 
bishop,  and  one  remarkable  case  we  shall  have  occasion  to  men- 
tion. The  sacraments  of  Extreme  Unction  and  Matrimony  were 
also  treated  of,  and  mixed  marriages  subjected  to  proper  guaran- 
tees. 

On  the  last  session,  on  the  10th  of  November,  regulations  were 
adopted  as  to  holidays,  manual  labor  being  tolerated  in  certain 
cases  on  holidays  not  falling  on  a  Sunday ;  and  finally,  decrees 
were  made  upon  the  offices,  the  life  of  the  clergy,  their  mainte- 
nance and  burial.* 

*  Concilia  Provincialia  Baltimori  habita.  Baltimore,  1851,  page  11.  Me 
TDoires  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  ecclesiastique  pendant  le  XVni.  Siecle  :  Paris 
1815,  iii.  190. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  priests  who  attended  the  synod  of  1791 , 
they  deserve  to  be  preserved,  as  having,  with  Archbishop  Carroll,  laid  th*' 
foundation  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States : 

James  Pellentz,  V.  G.  for  the  whole  diocese ;  James  Frambach ;  Eobcrt 
Molyneux,  S.  J.,  Vicar-general  for  the  South  (English) ;  Francis  Anthony 
Fleming,  S.  J.,  V.  G.  of  the  Northern  district;  Francis  Charles  Nagot, 
President  of  the  Sulpitian  Seminary  (French);  John  Ashton,  S.  J. :  Henry 
Pile  ;  Leonard  Neale,  S.  J. ;  Charles  Sewall,  S.  J. ;  Sylvester  Boarman,  S.  J. , 
William  Filing;  James  Vanhutffel ;  Robert  Plunkett;  Stanislaus  Cerfou- 
mont ;  Francis  Beeston ;  Lawrence  Gressel ;  Joseph  Eden ;  Louis  Caesar 
Delavan,  ex-Canon  of  Tours;  John  Tessier,  Sulpitian  (French);  Anthony 
Garnier,  Sulpitian  (French). 

Tliese-  twenty  priests  w>}re  the  only  ones  present  at  the  first  meetings. 
The  following  were  present  also  on  the  10th  of  November: 

John  Bolton,  S.  J.,  pastor  of  St.  Joseph's  ;  John  Thayer,  pastor  of  Bostou, 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  123 

When  the  bishops  elect  of  Boston,  Philadelphia,  and  Bards- 
town  met  at  Baltimore  in  1810  to  receive  episcopal  consecration, 
they  had  some  conferences  with  Archbishop  Carroll,  to  regulat^ 
together  important  points  of  discipline,  and  the  following  is  a 
summary  of  the  articles  then  adopted  : 

I.  Poor  as  they  may  be  in  subjects  for  the  ecclesiastical  state, 
the  bishops  declare  that  they  will  cheerfully  permit  their  dioce- 
sans to  enter  any  regular  or  secular  order  for  which  they  feel  a 
vocation. 

II.  The  bishops  forbid  the  use  in  prayer-books  of  any  version 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures  except  that  of  the  Douay  Bible. 

III.  They  permit  the  reciting  in  the  vernacular  of  the  prayers 
which  precede  or  follow  the  essential  form  of  the  administration 
of  the  sacraments,  except  the  Mass,  which  must  always  be  cele- 
brated entirely  in  Latin;  but  they  forbid  the  use  of  any  translation 
of  the  prayers  not  approved  by  all  the  bishops  in  the  province. 

IV.  The  bishops  do  not  permit  perpetual  vows  of  chastity  to 
be  pronounced  out  of  regular  religious  associations. 

V.  They  exhort  all  pastors  of  souls  to  combat  constantly,  in 
public  and  in  private,  amusements  dangerous  to  morals,  as  balls 
and  stage  plays,  and  forbid  the  reading  of  books  which  may 
weaken  faith  or  corrupt  virtue,  especially  novels. 

VI.  They  forbid  priests  to  admit  Free  Masons  to  the  sacra- 
ments, unless  they  promise  to  stop  attending  the  lodges,  and 
openly  proclaim  their  renunciation  of  the  society.* 

^  It  had  been  the  intention  of  the  bishops  to  meet  in  a  Provin- 
cial Council,  as  soon  as  they  should  become  well  aware  of  the 
condition  and  wants  of  their  several  dioceses,  as  we  see  by  the  fol- 
lowing preamble  to  their  articles  of  the  loth  of  November,  1810; 
"  It  appears  to  the  archbishops  and  bishops  now  assembled, 
that  the  holding  of  a  Provincial  Council  will  be  more  advan' 

*  ConciUa  Provincialia  Baltimori  habita,  p.  25.    Life  of  Bishop  Cheverus, 


124  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

tageous  at  a  future  period,  when  the  situation  and  wants  of  the 
different  dioceses  will  be  more  exactly  known.  This  Provincial 
Council  will  be  held,  at  farthest,  within  two  years  from  the  1st  of 
November,  1810;  and  in  the  mean  time  the  archbishop  and 
bishops  will  now  consider  together  such  matters  as  appear  to 
them  most  urgent ;  and  they  recommend  a  uniform  practice  in 
regard  to  their  decisions,  until  the  holding  of  the  said  Provincial 
Council."* 

These  projects  could  not  be  realized ;  and,  as  we  have  said,  it 
was  only  in  1829  that  Archbishop  Whitfield  convoked  the  bish- 
ops of  the  United  States  in  a  Provincial  Council  at  Baltimore. 
The  prelates  who  met  at  the  call  of  their  Metropolitan  were : 

Rt.  Rev.  Benedict  Joseph  Flaget,  Bishop  of  Bardstown. 

Rt.  Rev.  John  England,  Bishop  of  Charleston  and  Vicar-general 
of  Florida  East. 

Rt.  Rev.  Edward  Fen  wick.  Bishop  of  Cincinnati. 

Rt  Rev.  Joseph  Rosati,  Bishop  of  St.  Louis  and  Administrator 
of  New  Orleans. 

Rt.  Rev.  Benedict  Fenwick,  Bishop  of  Boston. 

Four  prelates  were  unable  to  come,  viz. :  Rt.  Rev.  John  Dubois, 
Bishop  of  New  York,  who  had  embarked  for  Europe  a  month 
before  ;  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  B.  David,  Coadjutor  of  Bardstown, 
the  proxy  of  the  Bishop  of  New  York,  prevented  from  attending 
by  sickness.  The  Rt.  Rev.  Michael  Portier,  Bishop  of  Mobile, 
was  also  in  France;  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  Henry  Conwell,  being  now 
merely  titular  Bishop  of  Philadelphia,  was  represented  by  the 
Rev.  William  Mathews,  the  Administrator  of  that  diocese.f 

The  opening  of  the  Council  took  place  on  Sunday,  the  4th  ol 
October,  in  the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore.     Archbishop  Whitfield 


*  Life  of  Bishoi  Flaget  by  Bishop  Spalding,  p.  66. 

t  Joseph  Rosati,  born  at  Sora  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  January  30th, 
1789,  entered  the  Congregation  of  the  Priests  of  the  Mission  or  Lazarists  aj 
an  early  age,  and  .n  1815  joined  Bishop  Dubourg  at  Rome,  to  follow  him  ta 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  125 

3t'lv?br:ited  :i  solemn  Mass,  and  having  fixed  that  day  for  the  re- 
ception of  his  pallium,  it  was  imposed  upon  him  by  Bishop  Fla- 
get,  the  senior  prelate.  Every  day  a  morning  session  was  held, 
at  which  the  bishops  alone  were  present,  with  the  Administrator 
of  Philadelphia;  and  an  afternoon  congregation,  which  the 
members  of  the  second  order  also  attended.*  The  closing  of  the 
Council  took  place  on  Sunday,  the  18th  of  October,  and  on  the 
24th  the  prelates  signed  a  letter  by  which  they  submitted  their 
decrees  to  Pope  Pius  VIII.  The  decrees,  approved  by  the  Con- 
gregation "de  propaganda  fide"  on  the  28th  of  June,  1830,  were 
presented  to  the  Holy  Father,  who  confirmed  them  on  the  26th 
of  September.  They  were  transmitted  by  the  Congregation  to 
America  on  the  16th  of  October,  with  some  remarks  ^^ permodum 
instructionis  insinuanda^''  and  these  remarks  having  been  com- 
municate^i  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Council,  the  decrees  were  printed 
on  the  30th  of  June,  1831.  They  are  thirty-eight  in  number, 
and  we  subjoin  a  summary  of  the  most  important : 

I.  The  bishops  have  the  right  of  sending  to  any  part  of  their 

America.  In  1824,  Bishop  of  Tenagra  and  Coadjutor  of  New  Orleans.  In 
1824,  first  Bishop  of  St.  Lonis.     Died  at  Rome,  September  15,  1843. 

Beiiedict  Joseph  Fenwiclc,  born  at  Leonardtown,  Maryland,  Sept.  3,  1782. 
Bishop  of  Boston  in  1825;  died  Aug.  11,  1846. 

John  Dubois,  born  at  Paris,  August  24,  1764.  Bishop  of  New  York  in 
1826  ;  died  at  New  York  in  1842. 

John  Baptist  David,  born  near  Nantes  in  1760.  Bishop  of  Mauricastro 
and  Coadjutor  of  Bardstown  in  1819 ;  died  June  12,  1841. 

Michael  Portier,  born  at  Montbuson,  Sept.  7,  1795,  came  to  America  in 
1817.  Bishop  of  Oleno  and  Vicar-apostolic  of  Alabama  and  Florida  in  1826. 
Bishop  of  Mobile  since  1829. 

Henry  Conwell,  born  in  Ireland.  Bishop  of  Philadelphia  in  1820  ;  died  at 
Philadelphia,  April  21,  1842. 

Of  the  other  prelates  present  at  the  Council,  we  have  already  given  short 
biograpliical  notices. 

*  The  ecclesiastics  present  were  : 

Eev.  John  Tessier,  Sulpitian,  V.  G.  of  Baltimore;  died  in  1840. 

Rev.  John  Power,  V.  G.  of  New  York;  died  in  1849. 

Father  Dziero;5ynski,  Superior  of  the  Jesuits;  died  in  7850. 

Bev.  Mr.  Carriere,  Visitor  of  St.  Sulpice. 


126  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

diccese,  or  recalling  any  priest  ordained  or  incorporated  within  it. 
This  does  not  extend  to  the  See  of  New  Orleans,  which  is  alone 
regarded  as  having  the  rank  and  privileges  of  benefices  in  the 
United  States. 

II.  Priests  ordained  in  a  diocese  or  incorporated  into  it  are  not 
to  leave  without  license  of  the  bishop. 

III.  Bishops  are  exhorted  not  to  grant  faculties  to  strange 
priests,  unless  they  bring  testimonials  from  their  own  bishops. 
This  provision,  however,  does  not  apply  to  apostolical  missionaries. 

V.  As  lay  trustees  have  often  abused  the  powers  conferred  upon 
them  by  the  civil  law,  the  Council  expresses  the  desire  that  bish- 
ops should  not  consent  to  the  erection  or  consecration  of  a  church, 
unless  a  deed  of  the  property  be  duly  executed  to  them. 

VI.  Some  laymen,  and  especially  trustees,  having  assumed  a 
right  of  patronage,  and  even  of  institution,  in  some  churches,  the 
Council  declares  these  pretensions  unfounded,  and  forbids  their 
exercise  on  any  grounds  whatever. 

IX.  The  Council  exhorts  the  bishops  to  dissuade  their  flocks 
from  reading  Protestant  translations  of  the  Bible,  and  recommend 
the  use  of  the  Douay  version. 

XL  It  is  forbidden  to  admit  as  sponsors,  heretics,  scandalous 
sinners,  infamous  men ;  lastly,  those  who  are  ignorant  of  the  ru- 
diments of  faith. 

XVI.  A  question  having  grown  up  from  the  difficulty  of  the 
times,  of  conferring  baptism  in  private  houses,  the  Council  does 
not  wish  to  suppress  it  absolutely,  but  nevertheless  exhorts  priests 
to  administer  the  sacrament  in  the  church  as  much  as  possible. 

XXVI.  The  pastors  of  souls  are  warned  that  it  behooves  them 
to  prepare  the  faithful  well  for  the  sacrament  of  matrimony ;  and 
that  they  should  not  consider  themselves  exempt  from  sin,  if  they 
have  the  temerity  to  administer  the  sacrament  to  persons  mani 
festly  unworthy. 

XXXIV.  As  many  young  Catholics,  especially  those  born  of 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  127 

poor  parents,  are  exposed  to  the  danger  of  losing  faith  and  mo- 
rahty,  from  the  want  of  teachers  to  whom  their  education  may- 
be safely  confided,  the  Council  expresses  the  wish  that  schools 
should  be  established,  where  youth  may  imbibe  principles  of  faith 
and  morality  along  with  human  knowledge. 

XXXVI.  According  to  the  wise  counsel  of  Pope  Leo  XII., 
addressed  to  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  a  society  shall  be 
established  for  the  diflfusion  of  good  books. 

The  Holy  See  also  granted  to  priests  in  the  United  States 
faculty  to  administer  baptism  with  water  not  blessed,  on  Holy 
Saturday  or  Whitsun-eve,  and  to  administer  it  to  adults  with  the 
same  form  as  to  children.  Priests  were  authorized  to  use,  in 
blessing  water,  the  short  form  employed  by  Peruvian  missionaries, 
with  the  approbation  of  Pope  Paul  III.,  as  given  in  the  Ritual  of 
Lima.  Rome  finally  permits  the  Paschal  season  in  the  United 
States  to  extend  fi'om  the  first  Sunday  of  Lent  to  Trinity  Sunday 
inclusively.* 

To  meet  the  views  of  the  Holy  Father,  the  bishops  formed  an 
association  to  publish  elementary  books  suited  to  Catholic  schools, 
and  free  from  all  that  can  give  the  young  false  ideas  as  to  reli- 
gion. This  Metropolitan  press  continued  its  issues  for  several 
years,  till  the  spirit  of  enterprise  among  Catholic  booksellers  led 
them  to  publish  devotional  and  other  works  so  cheap  that  the 
object  of  the  bishops  was  attained.  The  prelates  also  favored  the 
establishment  of  Catholic  journals,  and  the  Catholics  in  the 
United  States  soon  counted  five  weekly  organs — the  "  Metropoli- 
tan" at  Baltimore,  the  "Jesuit"  at  Boston,  the  "Catholic"  at 
Hartford,  the  "  Miscellany"  at  Charleston,  and  the  "  Truth  Teller.*' 

Among  the  subjects  on  which  the  meeting  of  the  bishops  threw 
gi'eat  light,  was  the  Catholic  population  of  the  vast  territory  o! 
the  republic.     By  comparing  their  calculations,  and  rectifying 


128  THE  CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

ore  by  anotlier,  the  Fathers  of  the  Council  concluded  that  the 
number  of  Catholics  in  the  United  States,  in  1829,  was  over  five 
hundred  thousand,  and  daily  on  the  increase,  by  immigration  or 
conversion.  These  developments  afforded  the  Episcopate  un- 
speakable consolation  in  their  labors,  as  we  may  judge  by  this 
letter  of  Archbishop  Whitfield  to  the  Council  of  the  Association 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  dated  February  16th,  1832  : 

"  The  wonders,  if  I  dare  so  express  myself,  that  have  been 
operated,  and  are  daily  operated  in  my  diocese,  are  a  source  of 
consolation  to  me,  amid  the  difiiculties  against  which  I  have 
still  often  to  struggle.  Thanks  to  a  special  providence  over  that 
beloved  portion  of  the  people  confided  to  my  care,  I  can  say  with 
the  apostle,  '  I  ain  filled  with  consolation ;  I  superabound  with  Jot/ 
in  all  our  tribulation.^  When  I  meditate  before  God  on  his  good- 
ness, his  mercy,  the  graces  which  He  bestows  on  my  diocese,  my 
heart  expands,  my  bowels  are  moved,  and  J  cannot  but  recall  that 
passage  of  the  Psalms :  '  He  hath  not  done  thus  to  every  nation.' 
A  truly  Catholic  spirit  distinguishes  Maryland  and  the  District  of 
Columbia  from  all  other  States  in  the  Union ;  and  I  venture  to 
say,  without  any  fear  of  wounding  the  truth,  the  city  of  Baltimore 
is  justly  renowned  for  the  true  and  solid  piety  of  its  people.  Con- 
versions of  Protestants  in  health  are  also  numerous,  and  not  a 
week,  in  some  seasons  not  a  day  passes  without  our  priests  being 
called  to  the  bedside  of  some  invalid,  who  wishes  to  abjure  error 
and  die  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church."* 

Thus  were  reahzed  the  hopes  of  the  Holy  See,  in  organizing 
the  Episcopate  of  the  United  States. 

*  Ancales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  v.  711. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  129 


CHAPTER   X. 

DIOCESE    OF    BALTIMORE (1829-1834). 

Second  Provincial  Council — Decrees  as  to  tlie  election  of  bishops — Decrees  for  confiding 
to  the  Jesuits  the  Negroes  and  Indians— The  colony  of  Liberia  and  Bishop  Barron— 
The  Carmelites— Liberality  of  Archbishop  Whitfield- His  character  and  death. 

The  years  which  followed  the  meeting  of  the  first  Provincial 
Council  of  Baltimore  brought  various  changes  in  the  Episcopate 
of  the  United  States.  Bishop  Dubourg  of  New  Orleans  had  left 
Louisiana  in  June,  1826,  to  assume  the  direction  of  the  diocese 
of  Montauban  in  France,  and  New  Orleans  had  for  several  years 
been  administered  by  the  Bishop  of  St.  Louis.  The  vacancy  of 
the  See  was  filled  by  the  Pontifical  rescript  of  August  4,  1829, 
appointing  the  Rev.  Mr.  Leo  De  Neckere,  a  Belgian  priest  of  the 
Congregation  of  the  Missions,  Bishop  of  New  Orleans.  He  was 
consecrated  by  Bishop  Rosati  on  the  24th  of  June,  1830,  and 
began  his  episcopate.  At  Cincinnati,  Bishop  Edward  Fen  wick, 
having  fallen  a  victim  to  the  cholera  in  1832,  had  been  replaced 
by  Rt.  Rev.  John  B.  Purcell,  consecrated  on  the  13th  of  October, 
1833.  At  Philadelphia,  the  Rev.  William  Mathews,  appointed 
Administrator  of  the  diocese  by  a  Pontifical  brief  dated  February 
26,  1828,  having  refused  the  post  of  Coadjutor,  the  Rev.  Francis 
Patrick  Kenrick  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Arath  and  Coadjutor  ot 
Philadelphia,  cum  plena  potestate  ad  regendam  dioccesim,  and  was 
consecrated  on  the  6th  of  June,  1830.  Lastly,  the  Holy  See  had 
formed  a  special  diocese  of  Michigan  and  Northwest  Territory, 
which  comprised  what  is  now  Wisconsin  and  Iowa,  and  named 
the  Rev.  Frederick  Rese  Bishop  of  Detroit. 

6* 


130  TH13  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

The  prelates  who  corresponded  to  the  call  of  Archbishop  Whit- 
field, and  convened  with  their  Metropolitan  on  the  20th  of  Octo 
ber,  1833,  were: 

Rt.  Rev.  John  B.  David,  Bishop  of  Mauricastro  and  Coadjutor 
of  Bardstown. 

Rt.  Rev.  John  England,  Bishop  of  Charleston. 

Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  Rosati,  Bishop  of  St.  Louis. 

Rt.  Rev.  Benedict  Fenwick,  Bishop  of  Boston. 

Rt.  Rev.  John  Dubois,  Bishop  of  New  York. 

Rt.  Rev.  Michael  Portier,  Bishop  of  Mobile. 

Rt.  Rev.  Francis  P.  Kenrick,  Bishop  of  Arath,  Coadjutor  and 
Administrator  of  Philadelphia. 

Rt.  Rev.  Frederick  Rese,  Bishop  of  Detroit. 

Rt.  Rev.  John  B.  Purcell,  Bishop  of  Cincinnati. 

The  two  last-named  prelates  had  received  episcopal  consecra- 
tion only  a  few  days  before  the  opening  of  the  Council.  Bishop 
Flaget,  of  Bardstown,  had  been  prevented  by  age  from  coming  to 
Baltimore,  and  Bishop  De  Neckere,  of  New  Orleans,  had  died  the 
preceding  month.* 

The  closing  of  the  Council  took  place  on  the  27th  of  October, 
and  by  the  first  decree  the  Fathers  solicited  of  the  Holy  Father 
the  erection  of  a  new  See  at  Vincennes  for  Indiana  and  a  part  of 
Illinois. 


*  The  following  are  the  members  of  the  second  order  present  at  the 
Council : 

Eev.  Louis  Eegis  Deloul,  V.  G.  of  Baltimore,  Promoter. 

Sev.  Louis  E.  Damphoux,  Secretary. 

Eev.  John  Hoskyns,  Sec.  Died  January  11,  1837,  aged  twenty-nine. 
Vice-president  of  St.  Mary's  College,  Baltimore. 

Eev.  John  Joseph  Chanche,  Master  of  Ceremonies.  Died  in  1852 ;  Bishop 
of  Natchez. 

Eev.  John  Eandanne,  Eev.  Peter  Fredet,  Chanters;  both  Sulpitiand,  anJ 
Professors  in  St.  Charles'  College  ;  the  latter  died  in  1856. 


IN   THE   IJNITED   STATES.  131 

By  the  third  decree,  the  Coimcil  set  forth  the  fixed  hmita 
which  it  judged  proper  to  give  each  diocese. 

By  the  fourth  decree,  the  Council  submits  to  the  Holy  See  the 
following  mode  of  electing  the  bishops : 

"  When  a  See  falls  vacant,  the  suffrages  of  the  other  bishops  in 
the  pro\dnce  are  to  be  taken,  in  order  to  determine  the  priests  who 
shall  be  proposed  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  for  that  See.  If  a 
Provincial  Council  is  to  meet  within  three  months  after  the  pre- 
late's death,  the  bishops  are  to  wait  till  then  to  select  the  persons 
to  be  proposed.  Bishops  desiring  a  coadjutor  shall  also  submit 
to  the  vote  of  their  colleagues  in  council  assembled,  the  names  of 
the  clergymen  proposed  for  the  post  of  coadjutor. 

"  As  the  holding  of  a  Provincial  Council  may  be  remote,  every 
bishop  shall  keep  two  sealed  packages,  containing  the  names  of 
at  least  three  priests  who  seem  to  him  worthy  to  succeed  him. 
On  the  death  of  the  prelate,  the  Vicar-general  shall  transmit  one 
of  these  to  the  archbishop,  the  other  to  the  nearest  bishop.  The 
latter,  after  taking  note  of  the  names  given  by  the  late  prelate, 
shall  transmit  it  with  his  observations  to  the  archbishop.  The 
metropohtan  then  writes  to  all  his  suffragans,  submitting  to  their 
examination  the  three  names  given  by  the  late  prelate,  or  three 
others,  if  he  finds  serious  objections  to  the  former;  and  then 
every  bishop  writes  individually  to  the  Propaganda,  giving  his 
observations  on  the  three  or  on  the  six  proposed.  On  the  death 
of  the  metropolitan,  the  dean  of  the  suffragans  shall  discharge  the 
duties  which,  in  other  circumstances,  devolve  on  the  archbishop. 
ir  the  deceased  prelate  leave  among  his  papers  no  nomination  of 
a  successor,  tlie  nearest  bishop  suggests  three  names  to  the  arch- 
bishop, and  the  latter  submits  them  to  his  suffi'agans,  with  three 
other  names,  if  the  former  do  not  meet  his  confidence." 

On  the  17th  of  May,  1834,  the  Congregation  wrote  to  Arch- 
bishop Whitfield,  transmitting  the  apostolic  brief  which  erected 
the  See  of  Vinccnnes,  and  appointed  to  it  the  Rev.  Simon  Brut4 


132  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

By  a  decree  of  June  14tli,  1834,  the  Propaganda  approved  the 
mode  proposed  for  nominating  bishops,  reserving  to  the  Holy  See 
the  right  and  hberty  of  choosing  any  other  than  those  thus  pro- 
posed by  the  bishops  of  the  United  States.  Lastly,  Pope  Gregorj 
XVL,  by  his  bull  of  June  17,  1834,  fixed  the  limits  of  the  dio- 
ceses according  to  the  decree  of  the  second  Council  of  Baltimore. 

In  its  fifth  decree  the  Council  had  asked  of  the  Holy  See  that 
the  Indian  tribes  dwelling  beyond  the  limits  of  the  fixed  dioceses 
of  the  United  States  should  be  confided  to  the  care  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus. 

The  Propaganda  solemnly  approved  the  decree,  and  this  hom- 
age rendered  to  the  Jesuits  by  the  American  hierarchy  is  a  new 
title  of  glory  for  the  sons  of  St.  Ignatius.  As  early  as  1823, 
Bishop  Dubourg,  of  New  Orleans,  wishing  to  revive  the  faith 
among  the  Indians  scattered  over  the  vast  extent  of  his  diocese, 
applied  to  the  Jesuits  of  Maryland,  begging  them  to  found  a 
mission  in  Missouri.  The  Fathers  could  not  answer  the  call- 
Seven  young  Belgians,  who  were  in  the  Maryland  novitiate, 
however,  set  out,  under  the  direction  of  Fathers  Van  Quicken- 
borne  and  Timmermann,  and  began  an  estabhshment  in  Florissant 
in  June,  1824.  Thence  the  Jesuits  visited  the  tribes  in  various 
parts,  announcing  the  Gospel  to  all.  After  the  action  of  the 
Council,  a  greater  development  was  given  to  this  apostohc  field. 
In  1834  missions  were  begun  in  the  district  called  the  Indian 
Territory,  west  of  Missouri,  and  in  1840,  Father  Peter  J.  De  Smet 
set  out  for  Oregon,  where  he  soon  founded  a  flourishing  mission.* 

The  Fathers  of  the  Council  also  recommended  to  the  Holy  See, 
by  their  sixth  decree,  the  negroes  who  emigrate  from  the  United 
S^-^tes  to  the  African  colony  of  Liberia,  and  solicit  the  Propa- 
ganda to  found  in  behalf  of  these  blacks  on  the  coast  of  Africa  a 
mission  to  be  confided  to  the  care  of  the  Jesuits.     This  solicitude 

*  History  of  the  Catholic  Missions  among  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United 
States,  by  John  G.  Shea.     New  York,  1855, 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  133 

of  tlie  American  Cliiircli  for  the  salvation  of  the  blacks,  even  after 
leaving  the  soil  of  the  United  States,  induces  us  to  give  a  brief 
sketch  of  the  colony  of  Liberia. 

In  1*787  a  philanthropical  society  was  formed  at  London,  to 
send  to  Sierra  Leone  the  negroes  who,  during  the  war  of  the 
American  Kevolution,  had  sought  refuge  in  the  ranks  of  the 
British  army,  and  had  returned  to  Great  Britain  with  the  other 
troops  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

The  idea  of  the  London  philanthropists  was  to  restore  these 
blacks  to  the  African  continent  from  which  their  fathers  had  been 
torn,  and  it  was  believed  that  there  alone,  free  from  the  tradi- 
tional contempt  attached  to  their  color,  and  from  which  no  eman- 
cipation is  complete  enough  to  free  them,  the  civilized  negroes 
might  constitute  by  themselves  an  independent  society,  and  labor 
with  profit  to  abolish  the  slave-trade  on  the  coast.  This  generous 
idea  spread  to  America,  and  on  the  1st  of  January,  1817,  a  pow- 
erful colonization  society  was  organized  at  Washington,  intended 
to  transport  free  negroes  to  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  there  create 
a  country  for  them.  The  first  emigration  took  place  in  1819,  and 
Monro^da  was  founded  at  Cape  Mesurado,  the  whole  country  which 
they  hoped  to  colonize  receiving  the  name  of  Liberia.  The  com- 
mencement was  diflScult,  as  happens  in  every  effort  of  the  kind, 
and  in  1833  an  independent  colonization  society  was  formed  in 
Maryland,  resolved  to  form  a  settlement  distinct  from  that  of  the 
national  society.  All  minds  at  Baltimore  were  occupied  with  this 
project  in  1833,  when  the  Fathers  of  the  Council,  interested  in 
all  that  concerns  the  great  human  family,  made  it  the  object  of 
their  deliberations.  The  Maryland  colony  was  founded  at  Cape 
Palmas,  between  latitude  four  degrees  and  five  degrees  north,  two 
degrees  south  of  Cape  Mesurado.* 

The    Propaganda    approved    the     decree    of    the     second 

*  A  History  of  Colonization  on  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa,  by  xircbibald 
Alexander.     Philadelphia,  lS-16. 


134:  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

Council  of  Baltimore  relative  to  the  Liberian  negroes.  It  seems^ 
however,  that  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  unable  in  1834  to  under- 
take that  mission;  but  in  1840  the  Holy  See  expressed  to  the 
bishops  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York  its  desire  that  each  should 
appoint  a  missionary  to  go  to  the  African  colony.  It  was  consid- 
ered that  as  the  blacks  sent  there  were  from  the  United  States, 
and  as  some  from  Maryland  were  Catholics,  it  was  proper  that 
the  priests  appointed  to  announce  the  true  faith  to  them  should 
be  from  the  same  country.  Two  ecclesiastics  of  Irish  birth,  the 
Rev.  Edward  BaiTon  and  the  Rev.  John  Kelly,  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  task  at  the  call  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  and,  accom- 
panied by  a  young  catechist  named  Dennis  Pindar,*  sailed  from 
Baltimore  on  the  21st  of  December,  1841,  for  Cape  Mesurado, 
whence  they  proceeded  to  Cape  Palmas.  On  the  10th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1842,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barron  offered  the  Holy  Sacrifice  for 
the  first  time  in  that  land,  where  the  Gospel  seems  never  to 
have  been  preached  from  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury.f 

The  two  missionaries  immediately  began,  by  means  of  inter- 
preters, to  preach  to  the  natives,  and  the  nation  of  the  Grebos 
was  soon  induced  to  consecrate  the  Sunday  to  rest.  After  a  short 
stay  in  Liberia,  Mr.  Barron  returned  to  the  United  States,  and 
thence  to  Ireland  and  Rome,  to  give  an  account  of  the  hopes  of 
his  mission,  and  to  realize  from  his  hereditary  estate  the  resources 
he  needed.  At  Rome  he  was  raised  to  the  episcopal  dignity, 
with  the  title  of  Vicar-apostolic  of  both  Guineas,  and  obtained 
seven  priests  of  the  Society  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Mary,  and 

*  Dennis  Pindar,  born  at  Fermoy,  in  Ireland,  in  1823,  died  at  Cape  ViH- 
mas,  January  1,  1844,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  after  having  displayed  for 
two  year."  the  most  admirable  zeal  in  the  labors  of  the  mission.  To  his  care 
Bishop  Barron  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kelly  owed  their  lives  in  the  fevers  which 
attacked  them  on  that  fotal  shore. 

+  In  1604,  the  Jesuits,  under  Father  Bareira,  established  a  mission  at 
Sierra  Leone,  and  converti)d  a  native  prince  and  many  of  his  people. 


IIS"  THE  UIsHTED  STxVTES.  135 

three  brothers  of  the  same  Order,  who  sailed  from  Bordeaux  ir 
September,  and  arrived  at  Cape  Palmas  on  the  30th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1843.  These  missionaries  were  M.  John  Remi  Bessieiir,  of 
the  diocese  of  Montpeher,  now  (1849)  Bishop  of  Callipohs  and 
Vicar-apostolic  of  both  Guineas ;  M.  De  Regnier,  who  died  at  the 
close  of  December,  1843;  M.  John  Louis  Rousset,  of  Amiens, 
who  soon  followed  him  to  the  grave ;  Mr.  Francis  Bouchet,  of  the 
diocese  of  Annecj,  who  died  at  sea  on  the  28th  of  May,  1844, 
while  going  from  Assinee  to  Toal  with  Bishop  Ban-on ;  Mr.  Au- 
dibert,  who  died  at  Great  Bassem ;  Mr.  Laval,  who  died  at  Assi- 
nee in  the  summer  of  1844;  and  Mr.  J.  M.  Maurice,  next  a 
missionary  in  the  United  States.* 

Three  Irish  brothers  or  students,  who  accompanied  the  mis- 
sionaries, all  sank  under  the  terrible  climate ;  but  three  French 
brothers,  though  attacked  by  the  fever,  finally  escaped. 

Bishop  Barron  was  thus  almost  in  a  moment  deprived  of  his 
zealous  co-laborers ;  all  being  stricken  down,  many  forever,  by 
the  fiital  climate.  The  indefatigable  Mr.  Kelly,  sick  himself,  dis- 
charged with  admirable  charity  the  part  of  physician  of  soul  and 
body  for  his  pious  brethren.  The  prelate,  after  again  visiting 
Rome,  deemed  it  best  to  confide  the  arduous  duties  of  his  mission 
to  the  Society  of  Father  Liebermann,  especially  devoted  to  the 
conversion  of  the  blacks.  He  accordingly  resigned  his  vicariate, 
and  returned  to  the  United  States  in  1845,  and  the  Rev.  John 
Kelly  followed  his  example. 

Such  have  been  the  attempts  made  by  the  American  Church 
to  evangelize  the  blacks  on  the  African  coast.  If  it  was  com- 
pelled to  renounce  the  diflScult  and  ungrateful  task,  it  has  the 


*  The  Annals  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  vol.xix,  p.  103,  represent 
Mr.  Maurice  as  dying:  there  ;  but,  thank  heaven,  he  escaped.  In  184G  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  American  missions.  He  spent  several  j'ears  in 
the  diocese  of  Toronto,  and  was  pastor  of  St.  Peter's,  Buffalo ;  and  to 
his  politeness  we  owe  the  above  facts  and  names. 


136  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

merit  of  pointing  out  the  good  to  be  done,  and  that  of  having 
furnished  the  first  nMssionaries  for  that  apostolic  work.* 

By  the  eighth  decree,  the  bishops  were  exhorted  to  open  an 
ecclesiastical  seminary  in  each  diocese,  conformably  to  the  pre- 
scriptions of  the  Council  of  Trent ;  and  by  the  ninth  decree,  a 
committee  was  appointed,  composed  of  the  presidents  of  the 
three  colleges  of  St.  Mary's,  Mount  St.  Mary's,  and  Georgetown, 
to  revise  and  expurge  the  books  intended  for  Catholic  schools. 
Nothing  is  indeed  more  important  than  to  put  children  on  their 
guard  against  the  wade-spread  prejudice  by  which  religion  is  mis- 
represented and  held  up  to  the  scorn  of  the  masses  in  the  United 
States.  In  the  pastoral  letter  of  the  first  Council,  the  bishops  had 
already  expatiated  on  the  bitter  results  of  these  preventions,  and 
their  remarks  have  a  practical  character  which  renders  them  ap- 
plicable to  the  present  as  to  the  period  when  they  were  written. 

"Good  men,"  said  the  prelates  in  1829,  "men  otherwise  well 
informed,  deeply  versed  in  science,  in  history,  in  politics — men 


*  Edward  Barron,  Bishop  of  Constantine  and  Vicar-apostolic  of  both  Gui- 
neas, was  born  in  Ireland  in  1801,  and  was  a  brother  of  Sir  Henry  Winton 
Barron  of  Waterford.  He  studied  at  the  College  of  the  Propaganda  at  Kome, 
and  won  the  doctor's  cap.  Some  years  after  liis  return  to  Ireland  he  came 
to  America,  and  was  made  Vicar- general  of  Philadelphia.  On  his  return 
from  Liberia  in  1845,  Bishop  Barron  repeatedly  refused  a  diocese,  preferring 
to  devote  himself  to  the  humble  labors  of  the  mission,  first  at  Philadelphia, 
then  at  St.  Louis,  and  finally  in  Florida,  He  was  at  Savannah  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1854,  when  the  yellow  fever  broke  out  with  fearful  violence  :  and 
for  two  weeks  he  devoted  himself  with  boundless  zeal  to  bear  to  the  aflflicted 
all  the  consolations  of  religion.  He  was  at  last  seized  himself,  and  Bishop 
Gartland  of  Savannah  Lavished  every  care  on  him  at  his  house,  when  a  ter- 
rible hurricane  unrooft  i  it  and  left  the  holy  invalid  exposed  to  the  fury  of 
the  elements.  Hastily  transferred  to  the  house  of  a  pious  Catholic  in  Savan- 
nah, the  first  Bishop  of  both  Guineas  died  a  martyr  of  charity  on  the  12th  of 
September,  1854,  and  on  the  30th  of  the  same  month  Bishop  Gartland  fol- 
lowed him  to  heaven,  another  victim  of  his  apostolic  zeal.  The  Kev.  John 
Kelly,  the  companion  of  Bishop  Barron  at  Cape  Palmas,  is  now  pastor  cf 
Jersey  City.  To  his  kindness  we  are  indebted  for  most  of  the  details  which 
we  have  been  able  to  give  as  to  this  xnost  interesting  mission  on  the  coast  of 
Africa. 


I2Sr   THE   UKITED   STATES.  137 

who  have  improved  their  education  by  their  travels  abroad,  at 
well  as  they  who  have  merely  acquired  the  very  rudiments  of 
knowledge  at  home ;  the  virtuous  women  who  influence  that  so- 
ciety which  they  decorate,  and  yielding  to  the  benevolence  of 
their  hearts,  desire  to  extend  useful  knowledge;  the  public  press; 
the  very  bench  of  public  justice,  have  been  all  influenced  by  ex- 
traordinary efforts  directed  against  us :  so  that  from  the  very 
highest  place  in  our  land  to  all  its  remotest  borders,  we  are  ex- 
hibited as  what  we  are  not,  and  charged  with  maintaining  what 
we  detest.  Repetition  has  given  to  those  statements  a  semblance 
of  evidence ;  and  groundless  assertions,  remaining  almost  uncon- 
tradicted, wear  the  appearance  of  admitted  and  irrefragable  truth. 
.  .  .  Not  only  are  the  misrepresentations  of  which  we  complain 
propagated  so  as  to  affect  the  mature,  but,  with  a  zeal  worthy  of 
a  better  cause,  and  which  some  persons  have  exhibited  in  contrast 
with  our  seeming  apathy,  the  mind  of  the  veiy  infant  is  predis- 
posed against  us  by  the  recitals  of  the  nursery,  and  the  schoolboy 
can  scarcely  find  a  book  in  which  some  one  or  more  of  our  insti- 
tutions or  practices  is  not  exhibited. far  otherwise  than  it  really  is, 
and  greatly  to  our  disadvantage.  The  entire  system  of  education 
is  thus  tinged  throughout  its  whole  course,  and  history  itself  has 
been  distorted  to  our  serious  injury."* 

The  two  councils  over  which  Archbishop  Whitfield  had  the 
glory  of  presiding,  and  which  illustrate  the  period  of  his  short 
episcopacy,  displayed  the  dignity  and  conciliating  spirit  of  the 
venerable  metropolitan.  The  sessions  were  conducted  with  an 
order  and  unanimity  which  gave  general  satisfaction.  Before 
these  august  assemblies  the  prelates  of  the  United  States  had 
only  a  very  imperfect  knowledge  of  each  other ;  they  were  united 
only  by  the  common  sentiment  of  respect  which  the  episcopal 
cliaracter  inspired ;  but  after  deliberating  together  on  the  gravest 

*  Notice  of  the  Rev.  James  Whitfield ;  Catholic  Magazine,  iv.  461. 


138  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

interests  of  the  Churcli,  after  learning  to  esteem  and  love  each 
other,  while  exchanging  opinions  often  different,  but  always  based 
on  the  desire  of  the  general  good,  the  bishops  separated  to  bear 
to  th'^ir  several  dioceses  sentiments  of  sincerest  friendship  and 
esteem  for  each  other.  The  deliberations  of  the  Councils  were 
very  important  in  the  eyes  of  the  Catholic  population ;  they  con- 
trarted  with  the  tumultuous  assemblies  of  Protestantism,  and  such 
was  the  veneration  which  they  inspired,  that  three  celebrated 
nirists,  admitted  once  before  the  bishops  to  give  an  opinion  on 
some  points  relating  to  the  civil  law  of  the  land,  left  the  Council 
full  of  respect  and  wonder.  "  We  have,"  they  said,  "  appeared 
before  solemn  tribunals  of  justice,  but  have  never  had  less  assur- 
ance, or  felt  less  confidence  in  ourselves,  than  when  we  entered 
thai  august  assembly."* 

Daring  the  whole  period  of  his  administration.  Archbishop 
Whitfield  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  three  female  religious  com- 
munities in  his  diocese,  and  showed  his  active  solicitude,  especially 
for  the  Carmelites,  because  they  had  to  undergo  trials  which 
compromised  the  very  existence  of  their  convent.  We  have  said 
in  a  pre^aous  chapter  that  the  first  Carmelite  nuns  ajrived  in  Ma- 
ryland in  1790,  under  the  direction  of  Father  Charles  Neale. 
Ihoir  subsequent  history  was  there  traced,  and  we  alluded  briefly 
to  their  struggles,  and  to  the  interest  which  Archbishop  Whit' 
field  had  ahvays  taken  in  that  devoted  community  of  pious  con- 
templatives.  Their  income  had  become  so  reduced,  that  it  was 
impossible  for  the  convent  to  subsist :  no  generous  founder  ap- 
peared to  enable  them,  by  his  alms,  to  continue  their  hfe  of  aus- 
terity and  prayer.  A  dissolution  seemed  unavoidable,  but  the 
archbishop  advised  a  removal  to  Baltimore,  and  such  a  modifica- 


*  Archbishop  Whitfield's  letter  of  January  28th,  1830  ;  Annales  de  la 
Propagation,  iv.  243.  The  three  jurists  were  Roger  B.  Taney,  John  Scott, 
and  William  G.  Read.  The  first  is  now  Cliief- Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States. 


IK  THE    UNITED   STATES.  139 

tion  of  their  rule  as  would  enable  them  to  join  the  other  sister- 
Hoods  in  the  great  work  of  teaching  the  young  of  their  own  sex. 
At  their  desire,  he  applied  to  the  Holy  See,  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
obtained  the  necessary  dispensation.  After  their  transfer  to  Balti- 
more, the  good  nuns  found  in  Archbishop  Whitfield  a  generous 
father.  Their  school,  opened  soon  after  arrival,  was  continued 
till  1852,  and  proved  a  source  of  incalculable  blessings  to  the 
Catholics  of  that  city. 

Soon  after  their  arrival,  another  of  the  venerable  foundresses, 
Sister  Aloysia  Matthews,  expired,  on  the  12th  of  November,  1833, 
at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-one,  after  a  life  of  eminent  piety 
and  devotedness  to  her  rule.  Since  their  stay  in  Baltimore,  they 
have  had  among  their  excellent  chaplains,  the  Rev.  Matthew 
Herard,  a  French  clergyman,  who  not  only  guided  them  by  his 
counsels,  but  aided  them  with  his  means  to  erect  their  present 
choir  and  chapel,  and  left  them  an  annuity  of  several  hundred 
dollars  for  the  support  of  a  chaplain.  After  his  time,  they  were 
for  some  years  directed  by  the  talented  and  zealous  Rev.  John 
B.  Gildea,  of  whom  we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  elsewhere, 
and  by  the  Rev.  Hugh  Griffin. 

Since  the  close  of  their  school,  the  Sisters  of  Our  Lady  of 
Mount  Carmel,  whose  community  now  numbers  twenty  professed 
Sisters  and  one  novice,  see  once  more  renewed  the  trials  which 
encompassed  the  latter  days  of  their  stay  at  Port  Tobacco. 
Their  certain  regular  income  is  scarcely  more  than  a  hundred 
dollars;  for  all  else  they  rely  on  Providence,  which  will,  we 
trust,  ere  long  raise  them  up  a  generous  founder  to  endow  their 
house,  and  enable  our  country  to  possess,  for  many  a  day,  the 
blessings  which  such  a  community  must  bring. 

Doubtless  Archbishop  Whitfield,  had  he  foreseen  all,  would 
have  devoted  means  to  so  good  a  work,  for  he  lavished  his  for- 
tune on  the  diocese  to  which  the  voice  of  Peter  had  called  him. 
The  Cathedral  of  Baltimore  especially  shows  the  efiectu  of  his  zeaJ 


140  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

and  liberality  in  the  construction  of  one  of  the  towers,  which  waa 
began  and  completed  during  his  administration.  The  prelate 
gave  also  considerable  sums  for  the  erection  of  the  archiepiscopal 
residence,  near  the  cathedral ;  and  finally,  he  built,  entirely  at  his 
own  expense,  the  beautiful  chm'ch  of  St.  James  at  Baltimore. 
Archbishop  Whitfield  laid  the  corner-stone  on  the  1st  of  May, 
1833,  and  on  the  same  day,  in  the  following  year,  he  solemnly 
celebrated  the  ceremony  of  the  consecration,  attended  by  a  nu- 
merous clergy.  But  the  archbishop  lived  only  just  long  enough 
to  see  the  noble  pile  completed.  In  course  of  the  summer  of 
1834  he  was  advised  by  his  physicians  to  visit  the  Springs  to  im- 
prove his  fast  decHning  health.  All  the  efi"orts  of  science  failed 
to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  disease,  and  Archbishop  Whitfield 
expired  on  the  19th  of  October,  1834,  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of 
his  age.  His  biographer  has  given  us  the  following  portrait  of 
him: 

"  Of  Archbishop  Whitfield  may  be  said  what  can  be  said  of 
few — that  he  entered  the  career  of  honors  in  wealth  and  left  it 
poor.  Prudence  and  energy  were  traits  in  his  character  very 
observable  to  those  who  had  an  opportunity  of  duly  appreciating 
it,  and  many  acts  of  his  administration  have  been  censured,  be- 
cause, through  a  spirit  of  charity  and  forbearance  towards  his 
neighbor,  he  abstained  from  exposing  to  public  view  the  grounds 
that  justified  and  compelled  such  a  course  of  proceeding.  If 
there  was  more  or  less  austerity  in  his  manner,  it  did  not  prevent 
him  from  cherishing  with  paternal  feelings  and  promoting  by  fre- 
f^uent  acts  of  benevolence  the  happiness  of  the  indigent  and  the 
orphan.  Fond  of  retirement  and  indifi'erent  to  the  opinions  of 
the  world,  he  seemed  particularly  solicitous  to  merit  the  favor  of 
Him  'who  seetli  in  secret,'  and  is  always  prepared  to  awaid  the 
crown  of  justice  to  his  faithful  servants."* 

*  Catholic  Magazine,  yiii.  24-88. 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  141 


CHAPTER    XI. 

DIOCESE   OP  BALTIMORE— (1834-1840). 

Most  Rev.  Samuel  Eccleston,  D.  D.,  ftfth  Archbishop  of  Baltimore— The  Brothers  of  the 
Christian  Schools— The  Redemptorists— The  German  Catholics — The  Lazarists— Third 
Council  of  Baltimore— New  Episcopal  Sees — Fourth  Council  of  Baltimore — Bishop 
Forbin-Janson  in  America. 

Before  sickness  had  seriously  enfeebled  ArcLbishop  Whitfield, 
that  prelate  and  his  suffragans  had  been  engaged  in  proposing  to 
the  Holy  See  an  ecclesiastic  whose  zeal  and  piety  fitted  him  to 
govern  a  diocese  so  important  as  that  of  Baltimore ;  and  such  a 
person  they  had  found  in  the  Rev.  Samuel  Eccleston,  President 
of  St.  Mary's  College.  The  Propaganda  approved  this  choice, 
and  in  the  summer  of  1834  Archbishop  Whitfield  received  letters 
apostolic,  nominating  Mr.  Eccleston  Bishop  of  Thermia  inpartibus, 
and  Coadjutor  of  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  with  the  right  of 
succession.  The  prelate  elect  was  consecrated  in  the  Cathedral 
of  Baltimore  on  the  14th  of  September  in  the  same  year.  Arch- 
bishop Whitfield  performing  the  ceremony.  But  that  worthy 
dignitary  soon  sunk  under  the  weight  of  his  infirmities,  and  at  his 
death,  which  occurred  on  the  19th  of  October,  1834,  Dr.  Eccles- 
ton became  Archbishop  of  Baltimore.  In  the  following  year  he 
received  the  palHum,  the  complement  of  his  metropoHtan  dignity; 
and  he  was  at  the  same  time,  as  his  two  predecessors  had  been, 
invested  with  the  administration  of  the  See  of  Richmond,  for ' 
which  the  Holy  See  appointed  no  bishop  till  1841. 

Samuel  Eccleston  was  born  on  the  27th  of  June,  1801,  in  Kent 
county,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland.     His  grandfather,  Sir 


142  •  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

John  Eccleston,  had  emigrated  thither  from  England  some  years 
before  the  Revolutionary  War.  His  parents  occupied  an  honora- 
ble position  in  society,  and  belonged  to  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  in  which,  too,  young  Samuel  was  educated.  But  while 
still  young  his  mother  became  a  widow,  and  married  a  worthy 
Cathohc ;  and  this  event  opened  to  him  a  horizon  of  light  and 
grace,  considerably  developed  in  the  sequel  by  his  education. 
The  young  man  was  placed  at  St.  Mary's  College,  Baltimore,  and 
distinguished  himself  in  all  branches  of  study,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  learned  to  know  religion.  He  there  embraced  the  Cath- 
olic faith  while  still  at  college,  and  was  so  deeply  impressed  at 
the  death  of  one  of  his  venerable  professors,  that  he  resolved  to 
devote  himself  to  the  ecclesiastical  state.  He  entered  the  semi- 
nary attached  to  the  college  on  the  23d  of  May,  1819,  but  was 
scarcely  inclosed  in  this  retreat  of  his  choice  when  he  was  beset 
with  pressing  solicitations  from  his  kindred  and  friends  to  abandon 
a  career  in  their  eyes  contemptible,  and  to  return  to  the  world,  of 
which  they  displayed  the  attractions.  No  consideration  could 
alter  Eccleston's  step;  on  the  contrary,  temptations  confirmed 
him  in  his  pious  design,  and  he  received  the  tonsure  in  the  course 
of  the  year  1820.  AVhile  pursuing  his  theological  studies,  he 
rendered  useful  service  in  the  college  as  professor.  Deacon's 
orders  were  conferred  on  him  in  1823,  and  on  the  24th  of  April, 
1825,  he  was  raised  to  ecclesiastical  dignity.  Five  months  after 
his  ordination  the  Rev.  Mr.  Eccleston  repaired  to  France,  and 
spent  almost  two  years  in  the  Sulpitian  solitude  at  Issy.  Re- 
turning home  in  1827,  after  visiting  Ireland  and  England,  he 
brought  back  an  immense  fund  of  acquired  knowledge  and  ar- 
dent zeal  for  the  cause  of  religion.  Appointed  Vice-president  of 
St.  Mary's  College,  then  President  of  that  institution,  he  dis- 
charged with  remarkable  success  these  important  functions,  when 
the  confidence  of  the  Holy  See  selected  him  for  the  Episcopate. 
On  his  succession,  Archbishop  Eccleston  found  religion  flour 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  143 

ishiiig  in  the  diocese  of  Baltimore.  Ecclesiastical  seminaries,  re- 
ligious institutions,  several  houses  for  the  education  of  youth  of 
both  sexes,  and  a  numerous  clergy  for  the  exercise  of  the  ministry 
— these  resources  showed  themselves  only  in  Maryland ;  Catho- 
licity is  better  spread  there  than  in  most  of  the  States  of  the 
Union.  The  archbishop  felt,  however,  that  the  growing  wants  of 
the  faithful  required  renewed  efforts ;  and  he  took  to  heart  to  in- 
crease the  facilities  for  religious  instruction.  During  his  admin- 
istration, the  Sisters  of  the  Visitation  at  Georgetown  opened  three 
new  schools — at  Baltimore,  Frederick,  and  Washington.  The 
Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  invited  to  Baltimore,  opened  a 
novitiate  at  Calvert  Hall ;  and  before  the  prelate's  death,  these 
four  schools  were  frequented  by  eleven  hundred  scholars,  while 
the  pious  teachers  of  youth  gave  at  the  same  time  their  care  to 
an  orphan  asylum  containing  sixty-four  children.*  Other  schools 
were  directed  by  the  Brothers  of  St.  Patrick,  who,  at  the  same 
time,  managed  a  model  farm,  where  a  manual-labor  school  was 
founded  in  1848  by  the  Rev.  James  Dolan,  pastor  of  St.  Patrick's, 


*  The  Institute  of  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools  was  founded  in 
1679,  by  the  venerable  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle,  and  approved  by  Pope  Ben- 
edict XIII.  The  professed  house  was  first  at  St. Yon,  near  Arpajon,  whence 
the  Brothers  have  often  been  called  Brothers  of  St.  Yon.  At  present,  how- 
ever, the  General  resides  at  Passy,  near  Paris.  The  government  of  the  insti- 
tute is  divided  into  nineteen  provinces — ten  in  France,  Algiers,  and  the 
colonies,  and  the  other  nine  in  Belgium,  Prussia,  Switzerland,  Savoy,  Pied- 
mont, the  United  States,  Canada,  the  Levant,  and  Malaysia.  England  will 
soon  be  organized  as  a  province.  In  these  provinces  there  are  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  establishments,  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty-three 
schools,  four  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  classes,  and  two  hundred 
and  seventy-five  thousand  pupils.  The  United  States  form  a  part  of  the 
province  of  Canada,  the  central  house  being  at  Montreal.  The  first  estab- 
lishment in  the  United  States  was  that  at  Baltimore  in  1846.  Two  years 
after.  New  York  also  possessed  these  Brothers,  in  consequence  of  the  efforts 
and  sacrifices  of  the  worthy  Father  Annet  Lafont,  pastor  of  the  French 
church  in  that  city.  At  the  present  time  the  Christian  Brothers  have  schools 
in  the  dioceses  of  Baltimore,  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Albany,  St.  Louis,  Not* 
Oilcans,  and  Detroit. 


14:4:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Baltimore.*  In  the  city  of  Baltimore  the  churches  of  St.  Alphon- 
sus,  St.  Vincent,  St.  Joseph,  St.  Peter,  St.  Michael,  and  the  new 
Lazarist  church,  the  Carmelite  and  Visitation  chapels,  were 
erected  during  the  episcopacy  of  Archbishop  Eccleston.  In  tlie 
interior  of  the  diocese,  ten  churches  were  also  built  by  his  care, 
while  the  number  of  ecclesiastics  was  almost  doubled,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  establishment  of  the  Redemptorists  and  Lazarists, 
with  whom  the  prelate's  zeal  succeeded  in  gifting  Maryland. 

The  Priests  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer  exercised  their  minis- 
try principally  among  the  German  population,  who  form  a  con- 
siderable proportion  of  the  Catholic  body  in  the  United  States. 
During  the  period  from  1840  to  1850,  the  emigration  to  the 
United  States  was  composed  annually  of  about  two  hundred 
thousand  Irish  and  eighty  thousand  German  immigrants.  For 
some  time  the  respective  numbers  of  the  two  nations  have 
changed.  More  liberal  laws,  emigration  to  Australia,  and  the 
fear  of  a  religious  persecution  in  the  United  States,  have  sensibly 
checked  the  movement  w^hich  bore  the  Irish  to  this  country ; 
while  the  consequences  of  insurrection  in  Germany  in  1848,  and 
the  impoverishment  of  the  country  brought  on  by  these  troubles, 
have  drawn  to  the  United  States  the  Germanic  population.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  1854,  the  number  of  Germans  landed  in  the  United 
States  amounted  to  two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand,  and  that 
of  the  Irish  sank  to  one  hundred  and  one  thousand.  Among 
these  Germans,  about  a  fourth  or  a  fifth  are  Catholics  from  Ba- 
varia, Saxony,  Baden,  the  Rhine  Provinces,  and  W^irtemburg. 

*  The  Brothers  of  St.  Patrick  were  founded  in  1808,  in  the  county  Carlow 
in  Ireland,  by  the  Very  Kev.  Dr.  Delany,  to  secure  a  Christian  education  to 
the  young.  Tliis  society  acquired  some  extension  in  Ireland,  and  in  1848  it 
had  three  houses.  At  the  request  of  the  Eev.  James  Dolan,  three  Brotliera 
of  this  society  came  to  Baltimore  in  the  fall  of  1846,  and  there  assumed  the 
direction  of  the  school  attached  to  St.  Patrick's.  They  opened  a  novitiate, 
and  took  care  of  the  model  farm,  established  soon  after  at  Govestown  to 
teach  the  orphans  rarming.  In  1853,  however,  the  Brothers  left  the  diocea©; 
while  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools  have  extended  remarkably. 


IN   THE    UNITED   feTATES.  145 

As  may  be  imagined,  episcopal  solicitude  was  early  turned  to  the 
spiritual  wants  of  so  many  good  people ;  yet  until  1840  they  had 
been  but  poorly  pronded  for  in  this  respect.  The  American 
clergy  did  not  understand  the  language  of  these  new-comers,  a»j.d 
they  themselves  felt  little  inclined  to  visit  churches  where  tho 
English  instruction  was  unintelligible  to  them.  In  some  diocese^ 
in  the  West,  German  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  attended  a 
certain  number  of  parishes.  Other  churches  were  formed  under 
the  pastoral  charge  of  German  secular  priests ;  but  these  camo 
from  their  dioceses  without  mission,  and  did  not  always  possess 
the  high  character  due  to  their  calling,  and  often  experienced  in- 
surmountable diflSculties  in  governing  their  flocks.  The  laity, 
imbued  with  Congregational  ideas,  incessantly  endeavored  to 
usurp  the  temporal  administration,  deliberate  on  the  choice  of 
their  pastors,  elect  their  priest  or  dismiss  him  at  will,  and  tn3 
rights  of  the  bishops  were  of  no  avail  against  this  sectarian  obsti- 
nacy. More  than  one  church  was  scarcely  built  when  it  was  in- 
terdicted by  the  diocesan  authority. 

The  establishment  of  the  Redemptorists  in  the  United  States, 
due  to  the  negotiations  of  Archbishop  Eccleston,  has  effected  u 
most  consoling  change  in  this  state  of  things.  The  pious  sons  of 
St.  Alphonsus  Liguori  have  very  flourishing  provinces  in  Ger- 
many. In  1841  a  colony  from  the  province  of  Austria  was 
installed  at  Baltimore.  It  has  since  then  received  successively 
new  reinforcements,  and  is  now  a  distinct  province,  containing 
upwards  of  sixty  Fathers,  scattered  in  residences  over  seven  dio- 
ceses— New  York,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Pittsburg,  New  Or- 
leans, Detroit,  Bufl'alo,  and  Rochester.  Success  has  generally 
crowned  the  efforts  of  their  apostolical  zeal.  The  German  Cath- 
olics are  no  longer  the  object  of  isolated  efforts.  A  powerful 
organization  now  devotes  itself  to  their  spiritual  succor,  and  the 
Redemptorists  have  had  the  talent  of  bending  these  difficult 
minds  to  an  obedience  any  thing  but  Calvinistic.     If  the  Germans 

7 


146  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

have  lost  what  some  would  call  independence  of  reason,  they 
have  gained  in  devotion,  which  is  clear  profit,  for  piety  ill  accords 
with  those  stubborn  wills  which  oppose  their  bishop  as  well  as 
their  pastor.  The  German  parishes  are  now  distinguished  for 
their  regularity.  The  celebration  of  the  offices  of  the  Church  is 
even  performed  with  a  pomp  that  contrasts  singularly  with  the 
simplicity  of  worship  in  the  Irish  and  American  churches.  The 
Catholics  of  Ireland  and  England,  so  long  deprived  of  the  public 
exercise  of  their  religion,  often  able  to  hear  only  Low  Mass  in 
secret,  know  not  how  to  mingle  their  voices  with  the  chants  of 
the  Church.  The  generations  which  have  grown  up  since  the  act 
of  emancipation  in  England  or  the  revolution  in  the  United 
States,  do  not  know  the  advantage  of  religious  melodies ;  the 
chill  of  Protestantism  seems  to  have  settled  on  the  brow  of  Cath- 
ohcs  living  amid  the  Babel  of  sectaries,  and  the  traveller  who 
\nsits  the  Catholic  churches  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and 
the  United  States,  is  struck  by  the  absence  of  the  Gregorian  rites. 
A  choir  of  females  grouped  around  the  organ  alone  undertakes  to 
execute,  as  best  it  may,  some  Mass  of  modern  composition,  in  the 
presence  of  a  mute  auditory,  indifferent  to  these  accents.  The 
Germans,  on  the  contrary,  musical  by  nature,  mingle  their  sono- 
rous voices  with  the  consecrated  chant  of  the  ritual ;  the  whole 
people,  blending  with  the  prayers  of  the  clergy,  improvise  choral 
Masses  of  the  finest  effect ;  and  the  renown  of  their  ceremonial 
attracts  to  their  churches  in  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  New 
York  numbers  of  the  curious,  who  always  leave  them  edified. 

The  Redemptorists  do  not  confine  their  ministry  to  the  Ger- 
mans. They  give  missions  and  preach  in  many  parishes,  and 
these  exercises  revive  piety  in  the  breasts  of  the  faithful.  Theii 
novitiates  have  received  many  converted  Protestant  ministers  or 
ecclesiastics,  who  have  become  exemplary  priests,  and  whose  elo- 
quent words  exercise  a  notable  influence  on  their  former  co-re- 
ligionists.    Their  Provincial  resides  at  the  convent  in  Baltimore, 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  147 

The  novitiate  is  at  Annapolis,  in  a  house  of  Charles  Carroll  of 
Carrollton,  generously  given  to  the  Redemptorists  by  the  grand- 
daughters of  that  patriarch  of  independence,  the  last  of  the 
signers,  and  cousin  of  the  first  Archbishop  of  Baltimore.  The 
Order  which  had  previously  failed  to  obtain  a  permanent  footing 
in  the  diocese  of  Cincinnati,  was  thus  secured. 

The  pious  Congregation  of  the  Priests  of  the  Mission,  or  Laza- 
rists,  was  also  invited  to  Maryland  by  Archbishop  Eccleston,  and 
now  direct  the  Sisters  of  Charity  of  Emmitsburg  according  to  the 
rules  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  It  was  not  till  1850  that  three 
Lazarists  from  Missouri  came  to  the  diocese  of  Baltimore ;  but  the 
congregation  had  existed  from  1817  in  Upper  Louisiana,  now 
Missouri.  When  Bishop  Dubourg  of  Louisiana  was  conse- 
crated in  1815  at  Rome,  he  obtained  some  Lazarists  of  the  Roman 
province  for  his  diocese.  The  Rev.  Felix  de  Andreis  was  the 
Superior  of  the  little  company  which  set  out  for  America,  and  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Rosati,  subsequently  Bishop  of  St.  Louis,  succeeded 
as  Superior  on  his  death.  In  a  letter  from  Mr.  Rosati  to  the 
Abbe  Brute,  dated  from  St.  Mary's  Seminary  at  the  Barrens, 
January  29,  1822,  we  read:  "On  our  arrival  at  Baltimore  from 
Europe  we  were  only  four  of  our  congregation,  three  priests  and 

*  The  Society  of  Missionaries  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer  was  founded  in. 
1732,  by  St.  Alphonsus  Lioruori,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  with  the  appro- 
bation of  Pope  Clement  XII.  The  rule  was  promulgated  June  21st,  1742. 
The  conjfregation  has  since  extended  widely,  and  out  of  Italy  embraces  the 
provinces  of  Austria,  Belgium,  Germany,  the  United  States,  France,  Eng- 
land, and  Holland.  Till  lately  the  Eector-major  resided  at  Nocera,  near 
Naples.  The  Vicar-general  who  administered  the  transalpine  provinces  had 
some  duties  of  subordination  to  the  Rector-major.  But  by  a  decree  of  the 
Congregation  of  Bishops  sxnd  Regulars  of  October  8th,  1854,  the  following 
dispositions  were  made : 

1st.  A  house  of  the  Order,  as  it  exists  out  of  Italy,  shall  be  established  at 
Rome.  2d.  The  Superior-general  shall  reside  at  Rome.  3d.  The  General 
Chapter  of  the  Order  shall  meet  at  Rome. 

St.  Alphonsus  was  canonized  by  Pope  Gregory  XVI.  in  1839. 

The  present  Provincial  of  the  Redemptorists  in  the  United  States  is  FatJber 
Hafkenscheid. 


148  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

a  brother.  We  are  now  nineteen — ten  priests,  three  clerics,  and 
six  brothers.  Our  gentlemen  in  Italy  take  a  great  interest  in 
us,  and  send  us  some  subjects,  and  others  have  joined  us  in 
America." 

The  province  of  Italy  continues  to  assist  the  missions  of  the 
United  States,  and  many  of  the  Lazarists  in  the  dioceses  of  St. 
Louis,  New  Orleans,  and  Baltimore  are  Italians.  This  congrega- 
tion has  given  the  American  Church  several  prelates — Bishop 
Rosati,  already  named,  and  also  Bishops  De  Neckere,  Odin,  and 
Timon.  They  direct  the  Seminary  of  New  Orleans  and  one  of 
those  in  the  diocese  of  St.  Louis ;  and  by  becoming  the  directors 
of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  of  Emmitsburg  they  extend  their  influ- 
ence over  all  parts  of  America.* 

During  the  term  of  his  episcopate.  Archbishop  Eccleston  was 
called  upon  to  preside  over  five  of  the  Provincial  Councils  of  Bal- 
timore, and  he  discharged  his  important  duties  with  equal  wisdom 
and  dignity,  exercising  the  most  cordial  hospitality  towards  his 
brother  prelates.  His  suffragans  accordingly  resolved  to  show 
their  gratitude  by  offering  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  in  their 
collective  name,  the  rich  vestments  and  plate  of  an  episcopal 
chapel. 

The  tliird  Provincial  Council  met  at  Baltimore,  on  the  16th  of 
April,  1837,  and  eight  bishops  convened.  The  Rev.  John  B.  Odin 

*  The  Congregation  of  Priests  of  the  Mission  was  founded  by  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul,  and  approved  successively  by  John  Francis  de  Gondi,  Archbishop 
of  Paris,  April  26th,  1626;  by  a  bull  of  Pope  Urban  VIIL,  January,  1632; 
and  by  letters  patent  of  Louis  XIII.,  May,  1642.  In  the  last-mentioned  3'ear, 
the  Priests  of  the  Mission  founded  a  house  at  Kome,  and  since  then  a  prov- 
ince of  the  Congregation  has  had  its  seat  at  Eome.  The  main  end  of  these 
priests  is  to  labor  for  their  own  perfection,  to  devote  themselves  to  the  sal- 
vation of  poor  country  people  by  means  of  missions,  and  to  exert  themselves 
for  the  spiritual  advancement  of  ecclesiastics.  In  1632  they  took  possession 
of  the  establishment  of  St.  Lazarus  at  Paris,  an  old  priory  of  the  Knights 
Hospitallers  of  St.  Lazarus  of  Jerusalem.  Although  the  Priests  of  the  Mis- 
sion were  dispossessed  of  their  house  of  St.  Lazarus  in  1792,  they  continue 
to  be  generally  known  by  the  name  of  Lazarists. 


IN"  THE   UNITED   STATES.  149 

had  been  appointed  Bishop  Administrator  of  Detroit,  Bishop 
Reze's  resignation  being  accepted.  Mr.  Odin  did  not  accept  the 
functions,  and  at  last,  on  the  21st  of  November,  1841,  the  Kt. 
Rev.  Peter  Panl  Lefevre*  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Tela,  Coad- 
jutor and  Administrator  of  Detroit.  Bishop  Reze  resided  at 
Rome  till  the  revolution  of  1849,  on  which  he  retired,  we  be- 
lieve, to  Germany,  his  native  country. 

The  Fathers  of  the  Council  in  183Y  proposed  to  the  Holy  See 
the  erection  of  new  dioceses — at  Nashville  for  the  State  of  Ten- 
nessee, at  Natchez  for  the  State  of  Mississippi,  at  Dubuque  for 
the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  and  at  Pittsburg  for  the  western  part 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Congregation  of  the  Propa- 
gaDda,  by  letter  of  September  2,  183'7,  transmitted  the  Pontifical 
briefs,  of  the  date  of  July  28th,  founding  three  new  dioceses,  and 
appointing  to  the  See  of  Natchez,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Heyden ;  to 
that  of  Dubuque,  the  Rev.  Matthew  Loras ;  and  to  that  of  Nash- 
ville, the  Rev.  Richard  Miles.  The  division  of  the  diocese  of 
Philadelphia,  by  the  erection  of  a  See  at  Pittsburg,  was  deferred, 
and  a  coadjutor  was  given  to  Bishop  Dubois  of  New  York,  in  the 
person  of  Rev.  John  Hughes,  then  pastor  of  St.  Mary's  church, 
Philadelphia.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Heyden  refused  the  episcopal 
dignity,  and  it  was  not  till  the  month  of  December,  1840,  that  in 
consequence  of  his  declining  it,  the  Rev.  John  J.  Chanche  was 
called  to  the  See  of  Natchez.f 

On  the   I7th  of  May,   1840,  the  fourth  Provincial   Council 

*  Kt.  Eev.  Peter  Paul  Lefevre  was  born  on  the  30th  of  April,  1804,  at 
Eouler,  West  Flanders. 

t  Kev.  Thomas  Heyden,  a  native  of  this  country,  ordained  at  Baltimore 
in  1821,  is  now  Vicar-general  of  Pittsburg,  and  resides  at  Bedford,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Rt.  Rev.  Matthew  Loras  was  born  at  Lyons,  on  the  30th  of  August,  1794, 
and  came  to  America  in  1829  with  Bishop  Portier.  At  the  time  of  his  elec- 
tion he  was  Vicar-general  of  Mobile,  and  was  consecrated  at  Mobile  on  tha 
lOth  of  December,  1837,  by  Bishop  Portier,  assisted  by  Bishop  Blanc. 

Rt.  Eev.  Richard  Pius  Miles  was  born  in  Maryland,  May  17,  1791,  and  wm 


150  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

opened  at  Baltimore.  Thirteen  bishops  were  present,  and  among 
them  the  pious  Bishop  of  Nancy,  Monseigneur  de  Forbin-Janson. 
At  a  preparatory  meeting,  held  on  the  14th  of  May,  the  Ameri- 
can prelates  had  unanimously  resolved  to  invite  their  French 
brother  to  assist  at  their  sessions  with  a  deliberative  and  decisive 
vote,  and  thus  acknowledged  the  services  rendered  to  religion  in 
the  United  States  by  the  ardent  zeal  of  Bishop  Forbin-Janson. 
The  missions  which  he  gave  in  various  dioceses  produced  the 
most  abundant  fruits.  His  eloquence  and  liberality  founded  a 
French  church  in  New  York,  and  Canada  still  remembers  the 
wonders  of  his  evangelical  charity  and  the  touching  ceremony  of 
planting  a  cross  a  hundred  feet  high  on  the  mountain  of  Beloeil, 
whence  the  august  sign  of  salvation  casts  its  protecting  shadow 
over  the  surrounding  fields  and  villages.  America  is  also  in- 
debted to  him  for  the  organization  of  ecclesiastical  retreats,  and 
never  indeed  will  the  name  of  the  holy  prelate  cease  to  be  men- 
tioned with  reverence.* 


Provincial  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic  prior  to  his  consecration,  which  took 
place  at  Bardstown,  September  16,  1838. 

Et.  Eev.  John  Joseph  Chanche  was  born  at  Baltimore,  on  the  4th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1795,  of  French  parents,  refugees  from  St.  Domingo;  was  ordained 
in  1819,  and  became  a  member  of  the  Society  of  St,  Sulpice.  He  was  conse- 
crated Bishop  of  Natchez,  at  Baltimore,  on  the  11th  of  March,  1841,  and 
died  July  22,  1852. 

*  Charles  Augustus  Mary  Joseph  de  Forbin-Janson,  bom  at  Paris  in  1785, 
was  admitted  at  the  age  of  twenty- one  as  an  auditor  in  the  Council  of  State, 
but  soon  abandoning  this  career,  he  entered  the  Scm'nary  of  St.  Sulpice, 
and  was  ordained  at  Chambery  in  1811.  He  remained  in  Savoy  till  the  res- 
toration ;  returning  then  to  France,  he  devoted  himself,  with  Mr.  Eauzan, 
to  the  establishment  of  missions.  He  preached  with  admirable  zeal  through- 
out France,  founded  the  house  of  missionaries  of  Mt.  Valerien,  made  a  pil- 
grimage to  the  Holy  Land,  and  effected  many  conversions  in  the  East, 
especially  at  Smyrna.  Appointed  Bishop  of  Nancy,  he  was  prevented  by 
political  intrigues  from  accomplishing  all  the  good  he  meditated  for  his  dio- 
cese, and  at  last,  to  his  regret,  was  compelled  to  leave  it.  His  voyage  to  the 
United  States  occurred  in  1839,  and  he  there  effected  immense  good  by  his 
missions  in  Louisiana,  New  York,  and  Canada.  Eeturning  to  France  in 
1842,  he  died  July  12,  1844. 


m  THE   UITITED   STATES.  151 

llie  Council  of  Baltimore,  honored  by  the  presence  of  a  noblo 
confessor  of  the  faith,  could  not  but  feel  a  deep  sympathy  in  other 
confessors,  whose  devotedness  to  the  Catholic  faith  was  then  re- 
warded by  a  dungeon.  The  American  bishops  addressed  a  warm 
letter  of  felicitation  and  encouragement  to  Claude  A  jgustus  de 
Droste  de  Vischering,  Bishop  of  Cologne,  and  to  Martin  de  Dun- 
nin.  Archbishop  of  Posen,  thus  showing  that  the  heart  of  the 
Church  everywhere  throbs  with  the  same  life,  and  that  the  trials 
of  religion  in  Europe  are  felt  even  in  the  New  World. 

The  Fathers  of  the  Council,  by  their  fifth  decree,  very  earnestly 
recommended  the  formation  of  temperance  societies  among  the 
Catholics ;  and  in  fact  abstinence  from  spirituous  liquors  is  the 
only  means  of  preserving  the  people  from  the  dangers  of  intoxica- 
tion, by  sheltering  them  from  the  misery  and  vice  which  are  the 
consequences  of  this  degrading  vice.  It  is  the  besetting  sin  of 
the  Irish  laborer,  and  it  is  only  when  his  conscience  is  bound  by 
an  oath  of  honor,  and  he  belongs  to  an  association  consecrated 
by  religion,  that  he  has  power  to  resist  the  poisonous  attrac- 
tions of  liquor.  The  celebrated  Father  Theobald  Mathew  did  not 
confine  his  labors  to  Ireland.  In  1849  he  came  to  America,  and 
spent  two  years  and  a  half  constantly  preaching  temperance  and 
enrolling  thousands  of  the  faithful  under  the  bap'^r  of  sobriety. 


152  THE  CATHOLIC   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XII. 

DIOCESE    OF    BALTIMORE (1840-184(3). 

J>ecree8  as  to  ecclesiastical  property — Fifth  Council  of  Baltimore — Decrees  against  di- 
vorce and  mixed  marriages — Subdivision  of  the  dioceses— Sixth  Council  of  Baltimore 
—Decree  as  to  the  Immaculate  Conception— Labors  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  the 
United  States. 

One  of  the  most  important  decrees  of  the  fourth  Coimcil  of 
Baltimore  bore  upon  church  property,  and  laid  down  rules  for  its 
presei-vation.  The  question  of  the  possession  and  administration 
of  the  churches  is  one  of  unequalled  gravity.  It  has  subjected 
religion  in  the  United  States,  since  the  emancipation  of  the  Cath- 
olics, to  innumerable  trials ;  it  has  produced  periodical  schisms — 
fortunately,  however,  only  local  and  partial,  but  not  pacified  with- 
out great  scandal ;  it  has  given  the  bigoted  majorities  in  the 
State  governments  a  pretext  for  interfering  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Church,  and  is  an  imminent  cause  of  serious  forebodings  for  the 
future. 

From  the  fundamental  principle  of  absolute  liberty  of  worship 
and  the  separation  of  Church  and  State,  it  would  seem  that  the 
Catholic  religion  should  be  invested  with  the  right  of  administer- 
ing and  possessing  property  according  to  the  prescriptions  of  the 
Bacred  canons.  Protestant  tolerance  has  never,  however,  gone  so 
far  as  to  grant  the  Church  this  essential  franchise ;  and  at  all 
times  civil  laws  have  fettered  the  free  development  of  the  faith  or 
multiplier'  the  seeds  of  revolt  m  the  bosom  of  Catholic  bodies 
On  the  15th  of  December,  1840,  the  Sacred  Congregation  of 
the  Propaganda  issued  a  decree  in  regard  to  the  preservation  of 
Church- property  in  the  United  States. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  153 

It  is  there  laid  down  that  the  duty  of  every  archbishop  and 
bishop  requires  him  to  prepare  a  will  in  the  legal  form  required 
in  the  State  in  which  they  reside,  and  thereby  to  bequeath  all 
the  property  of  the  church  to  one  of  the  bishops  of  the  province, 
naming  a  second  episcopal  legatee  in  case  of  the  death  or  default 
of  the  first.  These  wills  should  be  executed  in  duplicate,  one  of 
wdiich  is  to  be  kept  in  the  archives  of  the  diocese,  the  other  sent 
to  the  archbishop.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  metropolitan  to  see  that 
these  instruments  are  drawn  up  in  the  least  litigious  terms,  in- 
vested with  all  legal  formalities ;  and  he  shall  also  receive  all  the 
wills  made  by  the  superiors  of  religious  communities,  advising  the 
testator  of  such  corrections  as  for  greater  security  it  may  seem  to 
him  proper  to  suggest  in  these  important  instruments.  On  the 
death  of  a  bishop  the  devisee  put  in  possession  shall  send  the 
vicar-general  of  the  deceased  a  power  of  attorney  to  administer ; 
and  on  the  canonical  election  of  a  new  bishop,  the  latter  shall  re- 
ceive a  transfer  in  his  own  name  of  all  the  ecclesiastical  property 
possessed  by  his  predecessor.  The  decree  required  also,  that  if, 
within  three  months,  each  bishop  did  not  deposit  his  will  in  the 
hands  of  his  metropolitan,  it  should  be  referred  to  the  Holy  Con- 
gregation of  the  Propaganda.  But  in  the  fifth  Council  of  Balti- 
more the  American  prelates  asked  the  Holy  See  to  mitigate  the 
rigor  of  this  clause,  and  it  was  deemed  less  indispensable,  as  every 
bishop  was  better  aware  of  the  wisdom  of  the  regulation.* 

Establishments  of  education,  colleges,  universities,  and  board- 
ijg-schools  for  young  ladies  are,  in  the  United  States,  under  a 
legislation  quite  different  from  that  of  churches,  and  are  thus 
saved  from  the  dangers  which  threaten  the  latter.  The  States 
generally,  without  much  difficulty,  incorporate  these  houses,  and 
the  property  is  then  possessed  by  the  faculty,  composed  of  the 
president  and  principal  officers  of  the  college  or  institution,  and 


*  Concilia  Provincialia  Baltimori  habita,  pp.  172,  198,  21G. 
7* 


154  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

vsometimes  of  friends,  who  are  from  time  to  time  elected  as  trus- 
tees. Many  colleges,  directed  by  the  Jesuits  and  other  orders  or 
societies,  are  thus  held.  The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  has, 
however,  pertinaciously  refused  to  incorporate  the  Jesuit  college 
of  the  Holy  Cross,  at  Worcester,  although  it  fulfils  every  condi- 
tion required ;  and  that  St-ite,  the  cradle  of  Puritanism  in 
America,  the  actual  centre  of  infidelity  and  Arianism,  is  distin- 
guished now,  as  in  1620,  by  fanaticism  and  intolerance. 

The  prudence  of  the  bishops  and  of  the  Holy  See  having  re- 
moved or  banished  the  fatal  ferment  which  Protestantism  so 
adroitly  endeavored  to  infuse  into  the  discipline  of  the  Church, 
the  enemies  of  religion  sought  new  modes  to  attain  their  end ; 
Catholics  are  incessantly  stimulated,  by  the  countless  voices  of  the 
press,  the  pulpit,  and  the  platform,  to  revolt  against  their  pastors. 

The  fifth  Council  of  Baltimore  met  on  the  14th  of  May,  1843. 
Sixteen  bishops  took  part  in  the  deliberations,  and  one  of  the 
most  important  decrees  is  that  which  pronounces  the  penalty  of 
excommunication  1 2^ so  facto  against  those  who,  after  obtaining  a 
civil  divorce,  pretend  to  contract  a  second  marriage. 

The  Council  of  Baltimore,  accordingly,  have  not  failed  to  dis- 
approve decidedly  mixed  marriages,  and  to  dissuade  Catholics 
from  them,  while  decrees  endeavor  to  protect  the  faiih  of  the 
Catholic  aud  that  of  all  the  future  chikb.vn. 

The  happy  progress  of  religion,  ascertained  by  the  Fathers  of 
the  fifth  Council,  induced  them  to  ask  a  new  subdivision  of  dio- 
ceses; and  in  consequence  the  bishops  rcnew'ed  the  pioposition 
for  the  erection  of  an  episcopal  See  at  Pittsburg  for  Western 
Pennsylvania,  at  the  same  time  that  they  solicited  the  foundation 
of  other  Sees — at  Chicago  for  the  State  of  Illinois,  at  Milwaukee 
for  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  at  Little  Rock  for  the  State  of  Ar-kan- 
sas,  and  at  Hartford  for  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island. 

The  Holy  See  ac(;eded  to  the  pioposition,  and  by  letters  of 
September  oOth,  1843,  the  Congregation  of  the  Propaganda 
transmitted  the  Pontifical  briefs  appointing  the  Rt.  Rev.  Andrew 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  155 

Byrne  to  the  bishopric  of  Little  Rock ;  the  Rt.  Rev.  AVilHam 
Quarter  to  the  See  of  Chicago ;  the  Rt.  Rev.  WilHam  Tyler  to 
the  See  of  Hartford ;  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  M.  Henni  to  the 
bishopric  of  Milwaiikie.  At  the  same  time,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Ignatius 
Reynolds  was  called  to  the  See  of  Charleston,  then  vacant  by  the 
death  of  Bishop  England.  And  Rome  granted  coadjutors  to  tbe 
Bishop  of  New  York,  in  the  person  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  John 
McCloskey,  and  to  the  Bishop  of  Boston,  in  the  person  of  the  Rt. 
Rev.  John  B.  Fitzpatrick.  The  nomination  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Mi- 
chael O'Connor  to  the  See  of  Pittsburg  took  place  on  the  Vth  of 
August,  1843,  and  that  prelate,  being  then  at  Rome,  was  conse- 
crated in  the  eternal  city  on  the  15th  of  August  in  the  same 
year.* 

The  sixth  Council  of  Baltimore  assembled  on  the  10th  of  May, 
1846.  Twenty-three  bishops  took  part  in  its  deliberations,  and 
the  first  decree  was  to  choose  the  "Blessed  Virgin  conceived 
without  sin"  as  the  Patroness  of  the  United  States.  The  Fathers 
of  the  Council  thus  honored  the  Immaculate  Conception  with  an 
ardent  and  unanimous  voice.  "  Ardentihus  votis  plausu  consen- 
suque  unanimV  And  this  solemn  declaration  might  even  then 
convince  the  holy  Fathers  of  the  aspirations  of  the  Church  for  the 
dogmatic  definition  of  the  glorious  privilege  of  the  Mother  of 
God.  The  devotion  of  the  faithful,  moreover,  for  the  Immaculate 
Conception  is  not  a  thing  of  to-day  in  North  America.     It  goes 

*  Concilia  Baltimoriensia,  227. 

Michael  O'Connor,  born  at  Cork,  in  Treland,on  the  27th  of  September,  1810; 
consecrated  Bishop  of  Pittsburg,  at  Kome,  Aug.  15,  1843. 

Andrew  Byrne,  born  at  Cavan,  Ireland,  December  5,  1802;  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Little  Kock,  at  New  York,  March  10,  1844. 

William  Quarter,  born  in  King's  county,  Ireland,  January  81,  1806;  con- 
secrated (with  the  last)  Bishop  of  Chicago  ;  died  at  Chicago  April  10,  1848. 

William  Tyler,  born  at  Derby,  Vermont,  June  .5,  1806;  consecrated  Bishop 
of  Hartford,  at  Baltimore,  March  17,  1844 ;  died  at  Providence,  June  IS, 
1849. 

John  M.  Henni,  born  at  Obersaxony,  Switzerland,  and  consecrated  BishOji 
of  Milwaukie  at  Cincinnati,  March  19,  1844. 


150  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

back  to  the  earliest  days  of  its  discovery ;  and  the  ship  -which 
bore  Cokimbus  to  the  New  World  was  the  St.  Mary  of  the  Con- 
ception ;  the  second  island  which  he  discovered  w^as  called  "  La 
Concepciou."  In  the  North,  Champlain,  the  founder  of  Quebec, 
in  1615  dedicated  under  that  title  the  little  chapel  which  he 
built  in  his  rising  city.  In  1635,  the  Jesuits  dedicated  to  the 
Immaculate  Conception  their  venturous  Huron  mission,  and  in 
the  following  year  consecrated  the  country  and  its  people  in  a 
special  manner  to  "Mary  coTiceived  without  sin,"  as  Father  Le 
Jeune  relates  In  1658  Monseigneur  de  Laval,  Vicar-apostolic 
of  New  France,  adopted  as  his  arms  the  representation  of  the 
Blessed  Vii'gin  Immaculate,  and  of  St.  Louis,  king  of  France  ;  and 
soon  after  dedicated  his  cathedral  at  Quebec  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  under  the  title  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  Some  years 
later,  Gamier  founded  in  Western  New  York  his  mission  of  the 
same  revered  name  ;  but  in  1672  the  great  river  Mississippi  was 
baptized  with  the  name  of  the  Conception,  by  the  holy  Jesuit 
James  Marquette,  the  first  European  who  discovered  its  course ;  and 
this  missionary,  whose  life  was  one  continued  devotion,  tells  us 
in  his  narrative  that  he  "  put  this  voyage  under  the  protection  of 
the  '  Blessed  Virgin  Immaculate,'  promising  her,  that  if  she  did 
us  the  grace  to  discover  the  great  river,  I  would  give  it  the  name 
of  the  Conception  ;  and  that  I  would  also  give  that  name  to  the 
first  mission  which  I  should  establish  among  these  new  nations, 
as  I  have  actually  done  among  the  Ilhnois."*  This  was  the 
church  of  Kaskaskia ;  and  not  only  the  first  church  of  that  city, 
but  the  first  church  at  Three  Rivers  in  Canada,  as  well  as  the 
first  at  Mobile,  one  hundred  and  three  years  ago,  were  all  dedi- 
cated to  the  Immaculate  Conception. 

The  prelates  and  clergy  of  the  United  States  have  a  tendci 
devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  her  most  admirable  preroga- 

♦  Shed'a  Discovery  and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi,  p.  8. 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  157 

tives,  and  endeavor  to  inspire  the  faithful  witli  the  same  piety  by 
estabhshing  archconfrateruities  and  associations  of  prayers.  Their 
zeal  and  preaching  are  rewarded  by  an  increase  of  fervor  in  the 
ranks  of  the  faithful ;  and  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  will 
soon  doubtless  leave  nothing  to  be  desired  in  their  expansive 
feith.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  that  the  misery  of  living  amid  sec- 
taries of  a  thousand  shades,  all  hostile  to  our  dogmas  and  cere- 
monies, exercises  a  pernicious  influence  on  many  souls,  especially 
those  not  early  accustomed  to  it.  They  are  inclined  to  rest  satis- 
fied with  what  is  of  absolute  necessity  in  religious  practices ;  they 
are  tempted  to  believe,  that  as  God  alone  has  a  right  to  our  ado- 
ration, He  alone  has  a  right  to  our  prayers ;  and  they  fear  to 
scandalize  their  Protestant  neighbors  or  Protestant  members  of 
their  family  by  reciting  their  beads  or  giving  public  honor  to  the 
saints  or  their  effigies.  The  small  number  of  missionaries,  and 
the  poverty  of  the  sanctuaries,  have  contributed  to  perpetuate  a 
state  of  things  which  deprives  religion  of  many  of  its  beauties, 
and  piety  of  many  of  its  delights.  '  When  the  faithful  were  re- 
duced to  a  Low  Mass  in  an  humble  chapel  on  Sunday,  special 
graces  were  needed  to  prevent  the  heart  from  slumbering  with 
languor  and  remissness;  but  the  incessant  exhortations  of  the 
clergy  daily  accelerate  the  progress  of  piety,  and  the  glorious 
Patroness  of  the  United  States  is  now  honored  with  a  tender  ven- 
eration by  her  children. 

The  sixth  Council  asked  of  the  Holy  See  the  division  of  the 
vast  diocese  of  New  York,  and  the  formation  of  the  diocese  of 
Buffalo  with  the  western  counties  of  the  State,  and  that  of  Albany 
with  the  northern  counties.  At  the  same  time,  it  was  proposed 
to  detach  from  the  See  of  Cincinnati  the  northern  portion  of  the 
State  of  Ohio,  where  the  See  of  Cleveland  was  to  be  erected. 
The  Holy  Congregation  of  the  Propaganda  announced,  on  the 
3d  of  July,  1847,  that  these  propositions  were  adopted;  and  it 
transmitted  the  Pontifical  briefs  appointing  to  the  See  of  BufiaJo 


158  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  Rt.  Rev.  Johu  Tiraon  ,"^  to  Lnat  ol  Albany,  the  Rt.  Rev.  John 
McCloskey,  Coadjutor  of  New  York ;  and  to  that  of  Cleveland, 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Amadeus  Rappe.f 

While  the  bishops  were  assembled  in  Council,  they  had  the 
consolation  of  seeing  two  Catholic  chaplains  appointed  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  to  join  the  army  then  invading 
Mexico.  The  recruits  of  the  American  forces  are  generally  Irish, 
and  the  first  regiments  assembled  on  the  Mexican  frontier  were  at 
first  greatly  harassed  in  their  religious  faith.  The  commander 
endeavored  to  enforce  their  attendance  on  the  Protestant  worship 
in  the  camp  ;  some  who  refused  were  even  flogged,  and  numerous 
desertions,  then  and  later,  were  the  results  of  this  deplorable  in- 
tolerance. This  was  not,  however,  the  first  time  that  Catholic 
soldiers  had  been  hampered  in  the  liberty  of  worship,  under  pre- 
text of  military  discipline.  In  1831,  General  De  Walbach,  at 
Norfolk  in  Virginia,  put  under  arrest  Lieutenant  John  O'Brien 
for  refusing  to  enter  a  Protestant  church  at  the  head  of  his  com- 
pany. This  affair  produced  a  considerable  sensation  at  the  time, 
and  the  Lieutenant  would  not  allow  the  matter  to  be  smothered 
up.  He  demanded  a  court-martial,  in  order  to  determine  the 
point  once  for  all,  and  thus  give  Catholics  a  rule  to  guide  them 
on  similar  occasions.  Lieutenant  O'Brien  is  the  same  artillery 
ofiicer  so  distinguished  in  the  Mexican  War,  where  he  rose  to  the 
rank  of  Major.  He  was  the  author  of  a  much-esteemed  treatise 
on  militaiy  jurisprudence,  and  his  work  has  been  adopted  by 
Government  for  the  use  of  courts- martial.  As  may  be  imagined, 
the  author  here  discusses  with  great  care  a  point  on  which  he 


*  Et.  Eev.  John  Timon,  born  in  the  United  States,  a  Priest  of  the  Mission 
or  Lazarist,  was  in  1824  a  missionary  in  Texas  and  in  Ohio.  On  the  17th  ol 
October,  1847,  he  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Buffalo  at  New  York. 

t  Rt.  Eev.  Amadeus  Eappe,  born  in  the  diocese  of  Arras  in  France,  came 
to  this  country  in  1840,  and  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Cleveland  on  the  lOtlj 
of  CHtober,  1847,  at  Cincinnati. 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  159 

had  a  personal  collision  with  a  superior  officer ;  and  his  reasoning 
deserves  to  be  known. 

The  second  article  of  the  military  code  of  1806,  or  Articles  of 
War,  reads  as  follows : 

"  It  is  earnestly  recommended  to  all  officers  and  soldiers  dili 
gently  to  attend  divine  service ;  and  all  officers  who  shall  behave 
indecently  or  irreverently  at  any  place  of  divine  worship,  shall,  if 
commissioned  officers,  be  brought  before  a  general  court-martial, 
there  to  be  pubhcly  and  severely  reprimanded  by  the  president ; 
if  non-commissioned  officers  or  soldiers,  every  person  so  offending 
shall,  for  his  first  offence,  forfeit  one-sixth  of  a  dollar,  to  be  de- 
ducted out  of  his  next  pay ;  for  the  second  offence,  he  shall  not 
only  forfeit  a  like  sum,  but  be  confined  for  twenty-four  hours ; 
and  for  every  like  offence,  shall  suffer  and  pay  in  hke  manner ; 
which  money,  so  forfeited,  shall  be  applied  by  the  captain  or 
senior  officer  of  the  troop  or  company,  to  the  use  of  the  sick  sol- 
diers of  the  company  or  troop  to  which  the  offender  belongs."^ 

As  Lieutenant  O'Brien  justly  remarks,  the  laws  prescribe  some 
aots  and  forbid  others.  Every  prohibition  of  an  act  is  accompa- 
nied with  a  penalty  in  case  of  violation.  Thus,  misbehavior  in 
church  is  forbidden  by  Article  IL,  and  whoever  violates  it  incurs 
the  penalties  laid  down  there.  But  going  to  church  on  Sunday 
is  only  recommended,  and  no  penalty  is  prescribed  for  the  soldier 
who  declines  or  neglects  to  attend  divine  service.  It  is,  then, 
merely  a  counsel,  not  an  order ;  any  other  construction  of  the 
Article  would  be  in  open  violation  of  liberty  of  worship,  and 
Congress  is  very  careful  not  to  infringe  this.  It  is,  then,  a  fla- 
grant violation  of  the  Constitution  to  punish  a  soldier  who  obeys 

*  A  Treatise  on  American  Military  Law  and  the  Practice  of  Courts-Mar- 
tial, by  John  O'Brien,  Lieutenant  in  the  U.  S.  Army.  Pliiladelphia  :  Lea  & 
Blanchard,  1846  ;  p.  57.  We  are  indebted  for  these  facts  to  our  friend,  J.  G. 
Shea,  Esq.  Tb*'  General  Walbacli  here  mentioned  is  a  strict  Catholic,  and 
brother  to  the  "^'ery  Kev.  Louis  de  Earth  de  Walbach,  who  administered  the 
iiocese  of  Philadelphia  from  1814  to  1820. 


160  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

his  conscience  and  refuses  to  enter  a  cliurch,  and  any  soldier  per- 
secuted for  such  a  cause  by  a  fcinatical  superior  is  a  victim  of 
revolting  despotism. 

The  Catholic  soldiers  in  Taylor's  army  were  not  silent  under 
their  wrongs.  Their  remonstrances  reached  Washington;  the 
religious  press  took  up  their  cause  warmly,  and  public  opinion 
pronounced  in  their  favor.  President  Polk  asked  the  bishops 
assembled  in  Council  to  name  two  chaplains  for  the  troops.  The 
prelates  advised  the  government  to  apply  to  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
a  provincial  of  which  resided  at  Georgetown,  at  the  very  doors  of 
the  capitol.  The  provincial  chose  for  this  post  of  honor  two  of 
the  most  eminent  Fathers  of  the  Society — Father  John  McElroy 
and  Father  Anthony  Rey.  Although  policy  had  a  considerable 
share  in  this  act  of  justice.  President  Polk  is  entitled  to  the  gi-ati- 
tude  of  Catholics  for  affording  the  troops  the  consolations  of  their 
religion  amid  the  peril  of  war ;  and  the  fact  of  these  disciples  of 
St.  Ignatius  being  appointed  chaplains  in  the  army  by  Protestant 
republicans,  is  one  of  those  providential  and  extraordinary  events 
of  which  the  history  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  numbers  so  many  in 
its  pages.  The  military  legislation  of  the  United  States  not  fore- 
seeing this  function,  the  two  missionaries  were  breveted  as  cap- 
tains, to  give  them  rank  in  the  army,  and  they  followed  the 
conquerors  to  tread  the  soil  of  Mexico,  from  which  the  religious 
of  their  Society  had  been  in  so  iniquitous  a  way  expelled  in  1Y6Y, 
by  the  order  of  Charles  III.,  King  of  Spain.  At  the  time  when 
the  feelings  of  the  Catholic  soldiers  were  thus  respected,  religion 
enjoyed  the  greatest  degree  of  liberty  and  consideration  which  it 
had  ever  enjoyed  in  the  United  States ;  every  political  party 
sought  to  win  the  Catholics ;  enthusiastic  meetings  were  held  in 
all  parts  in  honor  of  Pius  IX.,  to  whom  various  cities  voted 
gratulatory  addresses  on  his  election. 

The  Archbishop  of  New  Yoi'k  was  invited  to  preach  in  the 
balls  of  Congress  at  Washington,  and  the  President,  with  his 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  161 

ministry,  joined  in  the  funeral  cortege  of  the  Archbishop  of  Bal- 
timore. These  marks  of  tolerance  and  sympathy  were  far  from 
the  fanaticism  of  the  last  two  centuries.  But  the  revolutions  of 
1848  sent  public  opinion  back  in  America,  and  awakened  the 
slumbering  religious  hate.  On  the  suppression  of  the  insurrec- 
tions in  Germany  and  Italy,  thousands  of  socialist  refugees  were 
spawned  on  the  United  States.  Welcomed  with  sympathy  as 
martyrs  of  liberty,  these  demagogues  immediately  set  to  work  to 
corrupt  American  institutions,  and  succeeded  but  too  well.  Their 
hatred  against  the  Church  strove  with  infernal  perfidy  to  arouse 
Protestant  fanaticism,  and  the  results  already  obtained  fill  these 
foreign  refugees  with  confidence  for  the  future.  In  1846  two 
Jesuits  were  chaplains  in  the  American  army,  and  CathoHc  pre- 
lates were  honored,  if  not  courted,  by  all.  In  1854  a  Nuncio  of 
the  Pope  was  pursued  from  city  to  city  by  insults  and  murderous 
cries,  and  a  Jesuit  was  treated  with  the  most  unheard-of  bar- 
barity. 

Father  Anthony  Rey  set  out  for  the  army  in  May,  1846,  and 
joined  the  corps  of  General  Taylor,  where  he  immediately  won 
the  esteem  and  friendship  of  that  old  warrior.  He  fulfilled  his 
duties  to  the  soldiers  with  admirable  zeal,  which,  not  satisfied 
with  assisting  them  in  the  hospital  and  on  the  field  of  battle, 
induced  him  to  learn  Spanish,  in  order  to  evangelize  the  poor 
Mexican  frontier-men,  scattered  over  a  territory  incessantly  rav- 
aged by  the  hordes  of  savage  Apaches,  and  destitute  of  all  reli- 
gious succor.  It  was  especially,  however,  at  the  siege  of  Monterey 
that  Father  Rey  displayed  the  courage  of  a  Christian  hero.  The 
combat  was  deadly,  and  continued  from  street  to  street,  from 
house  to  house.  The  Jesuit  accompanied  the  soldiers  in  all  their 
movements,  raising  the  wounded,  administering  the  sacraments  to 
Uie  dying,  praying  for  the  dead,  so  that  a  Protestant  account 
Bpeaks  of  him  in  these  terms  : 

"The  buDetins  of  your  generals,  and  the  glowing  eulogiums  of 


1G2  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

leite.r-wrilers  on  particular  deeds  of  daring,  present  no  examples 
of  heroism  superior  to  this.  That  Jesuit  priest,  thus  coolly, 
bravely,  and  all  unarmed,  walking  among  bursting  shells,  over 
the  slippery  streets  of  Monterey,  and  the  iron  storm  and  battle 
steel  that  beat  the  stoutest,  bravest  soldier  down,  presenting  no 
instrument  of  carnal  warfare,  and  holding  aloft,  instead  of  true 
and  trusty  steel,  that  flashed  the  gleam  .of  battle  back,  a  simple 
miniature  cross ;  and  thus  armed  and  equipped,  defying  danger, 
presents  to  my  mind  the  most  sublime  instance  of  the  triumph 
of  the  moral  over  the  physical  man,  and  is  an  exhibition  of  cour- 
age of  the  highest  character.  It  is  equal  to,  if  not  beyond,  any 
witnessed  during  that  terrible  siege."* 

After  the  fall  of  Monterey,  Father  Rey  remained  in  the  city  to 
take  care  of  the  wounded,  and  also  gave  missions  in  the  neigh- 
boring country.  In  one  of  his  apostolic  excursions  he  drew  on 
himself  the  hatred  of  some  wretches  for  inveighing  severely 
against  the  depravity  of  a  village  which  he  had  visited.  Attacked 
by  them,  he  was  assassinated,  together  with  the  domestic  who 
attended  him,  stripped  of  his  clothing,  and  the  body  of  this  gen- 
erous hero  of  feith,  martyr  to  his  apostolic  zeal,  was  found  by  the 
people  of  Ceralvo,  to  whom  he  had  preached  the  day  before. 
His  soldiers  wept  his  loss,  and  interred  him  far  from  his  native 
land,  far  from  the  land  of  his  adoption,  amid  the  tears  of  the 
Mexicans.f 

*  Memoir  of  Rev.  Anthony  Rey,  S.  J.,  by  James  Wynne.  U.  S.  Catholic 
Magazine,  vi.  543, 

t  Antliony  Rey,  born  at  Lyons,  March  19th,  1807,  was  educated  at  the 
Jesuit  College  of  Fribourg,  and  entered  the  Society,  November  12,  1827. 
He  asked  to  be  sent  to  the  American  missions,  and  landed  in  1840  in  the 
United  States,  where  he  was  successively  Professor  of  Metaphysics  at  George- 
town College,  assistant  at  St.  Joseph's  Church,  Philadelphia,  then  assistant 
to  the  provincial  at  Georgetown,  and  pastor  of  Trinity  Churcli  in  that  city. 
This  post  ho  left  for  the  army  in  Mexico,  where  he  was  to  find  a  grave  in 
the  month  of  January,  1847,  at  the  age  of  forty-one.  Father  Anthony  Rey 
was  famous  for  his  zeal  for  the  strict  observance  of  his  rule — a  zeal  which 
uever  relaxed. 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  1G3 

Father  Jolin  McElroy,  who  shared  the  labors  of  Father  Rey 
did  not  advance  as  far  as  his  companion  into  the  interior  ol 
Mexico.  He  remained  in  charge  of  the  garrisons  left  in  the  first 
conquered  cities,  and  there  gained  the  confidence  of  the  soldiers, 
as  in  1834  he  did  that  of  the  riotous  laborers  on  the  Baltimore 
and  Washington  Railroad,  whose  armed  gatherings,  to  the  num- 
ber of  five  thousand  or  six  thousand,  had  alarmed  all  Maryland. 
The  militia,  called  out  in  haste,  saw  no  means  of  checking  the 
disorder ;  but  the  Jesuit,  by  the  power  of  religion,  recalled  to 
their  labor  these  hard-working  but  excited  men.* 

We  have  seen  the  Provincial  of  Maryland  choose  two  of  his 
ablest  and  most  experienced  Fathers  for  the  modest  task  of  minis- 
tering to  the  poor  soldier.  This  was  because  all  souls  have  in 
the  eyes  of  God  but  one  price,  and  the  Society  of  Jesus  has 
proved  since  its  origin  that  it  can  give  its  blood  for  the  people  as 
for  the  prince,  for  the  savage  red-man  as  for  the  denizen  of  the 
polished  city.  This  venerable  Society  has  greatly  extended, 
within  these  last  years,  the  sphere  of  its  apostolic  labors  in  the 
United  States,  and  to  its  influence  is  due  no  inconsiderable  part 
of  the  wonderful  progress  of  religion  in  that  vast  republic.  We 
spoke  in  a  previous  chapter  of  the  foundation  of  Georgetown  Col- 
lege in  1788,  and  the  reorganization  of  the  Society  in  1803. 
This  college,  honored  by  a  visit  from  Washington  in  1795,  has 

never  since  failed  to  receive  the  kindly    consideration   of  the 

Federal  Government. 

*  Father  McElroy,  a  native  of  Ireland,  rendered  immense  service  to  reli- 
gion by  the  missions  at  Frederick  City  and  all  the  western  shore.  He  built 
a  magnificent  church  at  Frederick,  where  the  Maryland  province  now  has 
its  novitiate  ;  and  such  was  his  influence  with  the  people,  that  in  182*J  a 
Protesiant  writer,  Mr.  Schaeffer,  exclaims  in  his  journal  ;  "  Strange  paia- 
(lox  !  Catholic  France  expels  the  Jesuits,  deprives  them  of  the  education  of 
youth,  and  the  Protestants  of  Frederick  contribute,  each  with  Ids  fifty  dol- 
lars, to  build  the  Jesuits  a  college  there."  Father  McElroy  refused  the 
mitre  :  he  was  for  many  years  at  Boston,  where  he  founded  a  college  of 
his  order.  His  last  days  were  spent  at  Frederick,  Md.,  where  he  died, 
September  12th,  1S77,  aged  95. 


164  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

DIOCESE  OF  BALTIMORE— (1846-1878). 

Election  of  Plus  IX.— Popularity  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  in  the  United  States— Peter's 
Pence— Seventh  Council  of  Baltimore— Division  of  the  United  States  into  six  ecclesi- 
astical provinces-Death  of  Archbishop  Eccleston— Most  Rev.  Francis  P.  Kenrick 
sixth  Archbishop  of  Baltimore— National  Council  of  Baltimore  and  new  Episcopal 
Sees— Most  Kev.  M.  J.  Spalding,  seventh  Archbishop— Most  Rev.  J.  R.  Bayley,  eighth 
Archbishop— Most  Rev.  James  Gibbons,  ninth  Archbishop. 

The  Church  in  Virginia— Early  History— The  Church  antedates  English  colonization- 
Colonial  times— Penal  laws. 

Diocese  OF  Richmond,  isai.— Right  Rev.  Patrick  Kelly,  D.D.,  first  Bishop— His  labors 
at  Xorf  oik— Translated  to  an  Irish  See— The  Diocese  administered  by  Archbishops 
of  Baltimore  —  Right  Rev.  Richard  V.  Whelan,  D.D.,  appointed  second  Bishop 
of  Richmond  — His  labors  — Division  of  the  Diocese— Right  Rev.  John  McGill, 
D.D.,  third  Bishop— His  learning  and  ability  as  a  defender  of  Catholic  faith— Right 
Rev.  James  Gibbons,  D.D.,  fourth  Bishop-Right  Rev.  John  J.  Keane,  D.D.,  fifth 
Bishop. 

Diocese  of  Wheeling,  1850.— Right  Rev.  Richard  V.  Whelan,  D.D.,  first  Bishop- 
Eight  Rev.  John  J.  Kain. 

Diocese  op  Wilmington,  1868.— Embraces  parts  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  and  the 
State  of  Delaware— Right  Rev.  Thomas  A.  Becker,  D.D. 

The  Fathers  of  the  sixth  Council  of  Baltimore  had  scarcely  had 
time  to  return  to  their  dioceses,  when  news  arrived  of  the  death 
of  Pope  Gregory  XVL,  followed  almost  immediately  by  the  elec- 
tion of  His  Holiness  Pius  IX.  The  Catholics  of  the  United 
States  testified  sincere  regret  for  a  pontiff  who  had  done  much 
for  religion  in  their  country,  and  who  had  founded  half  the  epis- 
copal sees  then  existing.  The  holy  organizer  of  so  many  rising 
churches  was  deplored  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  New  World  ; 
the  Catholic  papers  put  on  mourning,  and  in  almost  every  diocese 
a  solemn  funeral  service  was  celebrated  for  the  repose  of  the  soul 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  165 

of  the  Father  of  the  faithful.  At  Philadelphia  the  funeral  oration 
on  Gregory  XVI.  was  pronounced  by  the  Rev.  Father  O'Dwyer, 
in  the  presence  of  the  city  authorities  and  the  two  foreign  con- 
suls— for  the  noble  attitude  of  the  aged  pontiff  in  his  interview 
with  the  Emperor  of  Russia  had  rendered  his  name  popular 
among  the  Protestants. 

But  this  unusual  sympathy  for  the  successor  of  St.  Peter  was 
especially  manifested  in  America  on  the  glorious  accession  of 
Pius  IX.,  June  16, 1846,  and  on  the  generous  measures  by  which 
he  inaugurated  his  reign.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  faithful  was,  as 
is  well  known,  perfidiously  imitated  by  the  Italian  revolutionists ; 
and  they  thus  obeyed  the  word  of  command  of  Mazzini,  who 
deemed  it  the  best  mode  of  overthrowing  the  Pope  to  attack  him 
at  first  by  praise.  The  echo  of  the  magnificent  popular  ovations 
decreed  to  Pius  IX.  resounded  even  beyond  the  Atlantic ;  and 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  wished  in  their  turn  to  show 
their  admiration  for  the  person  and  acts  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff. 
Meetings  were  called  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  Union,  and 
after  eloquent  speeches,  addresses  were  resolved  upon  to  bear  to 
the  Holy  Father  the  spontaneous  tribute  of  American  sympathy. 

The  Catholics  were  more  persevering  in  their  love ;  and  when 
they  heard  of  the  assassination  of  Rossi  (November  16,  1848), 
and  the  escape  of  the  Holy  Father,  eight  days  later,  their  filial 
respect  for  the  persecuted  Pontiff  redoubled.  As  the  stay  of 
Pius  IX.  at  Gaeta  was  expected  to  be  only  temporary,  they  asked 
where  in  the  whole  world  he  would  retire  during  the  anarchy 
which  ravaged  the  eternal  city ;  and  the  faithful  in  the  United 
States  flattered  themselves  that  the  Pope  would  come  to  seek  a  j 
generous  hospitality  from  the  great  republic  of  the  New  World. 
The  Archbishop  of  Baltimore  was  the  organ  of  this  unanimous 
voice,  and  on  the  18th  of  January,  1849,  Feast  of  the  Exaltation  of 
the  Chair  of  St.  Peter,  Archbishop  Eccleston  wrote  to  the  Sovereign 
Pontiff  to  beg  him  to  honor  Maryland  with  his  sacred  presence : 


166  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

"Our  seventh  Council  of  Baltimore  is  to  be  held  on  the  0  th  of 
May  next.  We  are  perhaps  too  bold,  Holy  Father,  in  asking  and 
hoping  that,  if  possible,  the  shadow  of  Peter  may  even  transiently 
gladden  us,  and  give  us  new  strength  and  courage.  How  great 
an  honor  and  support  to  our  rising  Church  !  what  joy  and  fervor, 
what  fruits  and  pledges  of  communion  throughout  our  whole 
republic,  if  your  HoHness,  yielding  to  our  unanimous  wishes, 
would  but  stand  amid  the  prelates  assembled  from  the  most  re- 
mote shores  of  North  America,  and  deign  to  console  and  honor 
us  and  our  flocks  with  your  apostolic  advice  and  paternal  bless- 
ing !  The  Council  might  easily,  if  your  Holiness  so  direct,  be 
deferred  to  a  more  convenient  time,  and  so  far  as  our  poverty 
peimits,  nothing  shall  be  wanting  to  make  every  thing  a  comfort 
and  joy  to  our  Most  Holy  Father."* 

Deprived  of  the  happiness  of  being  presided  over  by  the  suc- 
cessor of  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  the  Fathers  of  the  seventh 
Council  of  Baltimore  wished  to  show  their  lively  sympathy,  by 
ordering  a  collection  to  be  made  in  their  dioceses,  in  the  nature 
of  Peter's  pence.  This  spontaneous  tribute  produced  about 
twenty-six  thousand  dollars,  which  was  transmitted  to  the  Pope's 
Nuncio,  at  Paris,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

The  Council  met  on  the  6th  of  May,  1849  ;  twenty-five  bishops 
were  present ;  and  by  the  first  and  second  decrees,  the  Fathers 
proclaimed  that  the  devotion  of  the  clergy  and  faithful  of  the 


*  L'Orbe  Cattolico  a  Pio  IX.  Pontifice  Massimo  esulante  da  Eonia.  Na- 
poll,  1850;  vol.  i.  248.  This  work,  published  by  the  Civilta  Cattolica,  con- 
tains the  letters  of  condolence  and  sympathy  addressed  to  the  Holy  Father 
by  the  bishops  of  the  whole  world  on  the  news  of%is  exile  to  Gaeta — a 
magnificent  monument  of  the  unanimity  of  the  Church  and  its  communion 
with  its  head.  Besides  the  letter  of  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  we  re- 
mark letters  from  the  Bishop  of  Natchez  and  the  Bishop  of  Wallawalla  and 
Isesqualy,  but  we  do  not  perceive  the  beautiful  letter  addressed  to  Pope 
Pius,  on. the  13th  of  May,  1849,  by  the  Fathers  of  the  seventh  Council  oi 
Baltimore  :  and  yet  that  important  document  merits  an  honorable  place  io 
such  a  collection. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATE-?.  1G7 

United  States  to  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin Mary  was  universal ;  and  declared  that  the  prelates  would 
regard  with  lively  satisfaction  the  doctrinal  definition  of  that 
mystery  by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  if,  in  the  judgment  of  his  wis- 
dom, he  deemed  the  definition  seasonable.  These  decrees  were 
adopted  unanimously,  with  the  exception  of  one,  the  prelate  of 
Richmond,  whose  dissenting  opinion  is  given  in  the  annals  of  the 
Council  of  Baltimore,  doubtless  at  the  wish  of  Bishop  Whelan.* 

The  Council  proposed  the  erection  of  new  Sees  at  Wheeling 
for  the  eastern  part  of  Virginia ;  at  Savannah  for  the  State  of 
Georgia ;  at  St.  Paul  for  Minnesota  Territory ;  and  a  Vicariate- 
apostolic  at  Santa  Fe  for  New  Mexico,  which  had  lately  been 
added  to  the  United  States.  The  troubles  of  the  Roman  Revolu- 
tion retarded  the  examination  of  the  acts  of  the  Council ;  but  the 
Pope  having  entered  Rome  on  the  12th  of  April,  1850,  the  Con- 
gregation resumed  their  accustomed  important  deliberations ;  and, 
by  letter  of  August  9,  1850,  the  Propaganda  transmitted  to  Bal- 
timore the  Pontifical  briefs  transferring  Bishop  Whelan  to  the 
new  See  of  Wheeling,  and  nominating  the  Rev.  Francis  Xavier 
Gartland  to  the  See  of  Savannah,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Cretin  to  the 
See  of  St.  Paul,  the  Rev.  John  McGill  to  the  See  of  Richmond, 
and  the  Rev.  John  Lamy  to  the  Vicariate-apostolic  of  Santa  Fe. 
The  Rev.  Charles  P.  Montgomery,  and  on  his  refusal,  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Sadoc  Alemany  was  called  to  the  See  of  Monterey,  in 
California,  a  province  ceded  to  the  United  States  by  Mexico,  after 
the  war  of  1846.t 

*  Concilia  Provincialia  Baltimori  habita,  p.  274. 

t  Francis  Xavier  Gar^nd,  born  in  Dublin  in  1805,  ordained  at  Philadel- 
phia in  1832,  consecrated  Bishop  of  Savannah,  November  10,  1850,  died  of 
the  yellow  fever  at  his  See,  September  20,  1853. 

Joseph  Cretin,  of  the  diocese  of  Lyons,  devoted  himself  to  the  American 
missions  in  1838,  was  consecrated  in  France,  Bishop  of  St.  Paul's,  July  26, 
1851,  and  returned  to  this  country  with  six  priests. 

John  Lamy,  born  in  1813,  at  Londres,  in  the  diocese  of  Clermont,  cm- 
barked,  for  this  country,  with  Archbishop  PurceU,  July  9,  1839,  together 


168  THE   CATHOIIC   CHURCH 

The  bisLops  also  proposed  suflfragans  for  the  metropolitan  See 
of  St.  Lov<is,  which  the  Holy  See  had,  by  brief  of  July  20,  1847, 
raised  Uj  the  dignity  of  an  archiepiscopal  See.  Many  of  the 
bishopS  had  opposed  the  division,  but  now  yielding  to  the  voice 
of  Peter,  they  proposed  other  ecclesiastical  pro^-inces,  and  to  the 
Archbishop  of  St.  Louis  assigned  as  suffragans,  the  Bishops  of 
Dubuque,  Nashville,  St.  Paul,  Chicago,  and  Milwaukie.  New 
apostohc  briefs,  of  the  19th  of  July,  1850,  confirmed  this,  and  at 
the  same  time  erected  into  metropolitan  churches — 

1st.  The  See  of  New  Orleans,  with  Mobile,  Natchez,  Little 
Rock,  and  Galveston  as  suffragans. 

2d.  The  See  of  Cincinnati,  with  Louisville,  Detroit,  Vincennes, 
and  Cleveland  as  suffragans. 

3d.  The  See  of  New  York,  with  Boston,  Hartford,  Albany,  and 
Buffalo  as  suffragans. 

By  this  division,  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore  retained  as  his 
suffragans  only  the  Bishops  of  Philadelphia,  Richmond,  Wheeling, 
Savannah,  Charleston,  and  Pittsburg.  The  United  States  were 
thus  divided  into  six  ecclesiastical  provinces,  including  the  prov- 
ince of  Oregon,  erected  July  24,  1846. 

Admirable  fecundity  of  the  Church,  w^hich,  amid  its  greatest 
tnals,  gives  birth  to  new  folds !  While  the  enemies  of  religion 
believed  that  they  had  destroyed  the  Papacy  at  Rome,  a  hiei'ar- 
chical  organization,  full  of  the  future,  w^as  preparing  in  America. 
The  prelates  awaited  with  the  most  respectful  deference  the  end 
of  the  Revolution,  so  that  the  Holy  Father  might  confirm  their 
decrees ;  and  one  of  the  first  acts  of  Pius  IX.,  on  his  complete 
restoration  to  his  temporal  and  spiritual  power,  was  to  approve 

with  five  other  missionaries  of  Auvergne ;  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Agatho 
in  parUhus,  and  Vicar- apostolic  of  New  Mexico,  November  24, 1850. 

Joseph  Sadoc  Alemany,  a  Dominican,  born  in  Catalonia,  then  exiled  to 
Italy,,  but  coming  to  America,  became  provincial  of  the  Order,  was  conse- 
crated at  Eome,  second  Bishop  of  Monterey,  in  1550,  and  transferred  to  the 
archbishopric  of  San  Francisco,  July  29,  1853. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  169 

the  proposals  of  the  Council  at  Baltimore.  By  a  remarkable 
comcidence,  the  erection  of  Baltimore  into  a  metropolitan  See  had 
been  effected  in  1808,  at  a  moment  \vhen  Pius  VII.  was  the  vic- 
tim of  persecution,  and  the  bulls  of  installation,  retarded  by  the 
imprisonment  of  that  holy  Pontiff,  and  by  the  death  of  the  bishop 
who  was  biinging  them  to  this  country,  reached  the  United 
States  only  in  1810. 

Before  separating,  the  bishops  addressed  pastoral  letters  to  the 
clergy  and  laity  of  their  dioceses,  elegantly  expressive  of  the  grief 
which  they  felt  to  witness  the  outrages  offered  to  the  Holy  See. 
"We  are  not  subject  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  as  a  temporal 
power,  and  are  devotedly  attached  to  the  republican  institutions 
under  which  we  live.  We  feel  ourselves  to  be  impartial  judges 
of  the  events  which  have  resulted  in  his  flight  from  the  capitol, 
and  of  the  subsequent  attempts  to  strip  him  of  all  civil  power ; 
yet  as  friends  of  order  and  liberty,  we  cannot  but  lament  that  his 
enlightened  pohcy  has  not  been  suffered  to  develop  itself,  and 
that  violence  and  outrage  have  disgraced  the  proceedings  of  those 
who  proclaim  themselves  the  friends  of  social  progress.  We 
must  at  the  same  time  avow  our  conviction  that  the  temporal 
principahty  of  the  Roman  States  has  served  in  the  order  of  Divine 
Providence,  for  the  free  and  unsuspicious  exercise  of  the  spiritual 
functions  of  the  Pontificate,  and  for  the  advancement  of  the 
interests  of  religion  by  fostering  institutions  of  charity  and  learn- 
ing. Were  the  Bishop  of  Rome  the  subject  of  a  civil  ruler  or 
the  citizen  of  a  republic,  it  might  be  feared  that  he  would  not 
always  enjoy  that  freedom  of  action  which  is  necessary,  that  his 
decrees  and  measures  be  respected  by  the  faithful  throughout  the 
world.  We  know,  indeed,  that  if  at  any  time  it  please  God  to 
suffer  him^to  be  permanently  deprived  of  all  civil  power.  He  will 
divinely  guard  the  free  exercise  of  his  spiritual  authority,  as  was  the 
case  during  the  first  three  ages,  under  the  reign  of  the  pagan  empe- 
rors, when  the  bishops  of  Rome  displayed  an  apostoHc  energy, 

8 


170  TE.fi   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

which  was  everywhere  felt  and  respected.  On  account  of  tht 
more  excellent  principality  attached  to  the  Church  of  Rome  from 
the  beginniug,  as  founded  by  the  glorious  apostles,  Peter  and 
Paul,  every  local  church — that  is,  all  Christians  in  every  part  of 
the  world — felt  bound  to  harmonize  in  faith  with  that  most 
ancient  and  illustrious  Church,  and  to  cherinh  inviolably  her  com- 
munion. The  successor  of  Peter,  even  under  circumstances  so  un- 
favorable, watched  over  the  general  interests  of  religion  in  Asia  and 
Africa,  as  well  as  Europe,  and  authoritatively  proscribed  every 
error  opposed  to  divine  revelations,  and  every  usage  pregnant 
with  danger  to  its  integrity. 

"  The  Pontifical  office  is  of  divine  institution,  and  totally  inde- 
pendent of  all  the  vicissitudes  to  which  the  temporal  principality 
is  subject.  When  Christ  our  Lord  promised  to  Peter  that  He 
would  build  his  church  on  him  as  a  rock.  He  gave  him  the 
assurance  that  the  gates  of  hell — that  is,  the  powers  of  darkness 
— should  not  prevail  against  it ;  which  necessarily  implies  that 
his  office  is  fundamental  and  essential  to  the  Church,  and  must 
continue  to  the  end  of  time.  Peter  was  constituted  pastor  of  the 
lambs  and  sheep — namely,  of  the  whole  flock  of  Christ — which 
through  him  is  one  fold  under  one  shepherd.  Our  Lord,  at  his 
last  supper,  prayed  that  his  disciples,  and  those  who  through 
their  ministry  should  believe  in  Him,  might  be  one,  even  as  He 
and  the  Father  are  one ;  and  as  He  is  always  heard,  we  cannot 
doubt  that  this  unity  is  an  inseparable  characteristic  of  the 
Church ;  whence  the  office  of  the  chief  pastor,  by  which  unity  is 
maintained,  can  never  cease.  We  exhort  you,  brethren,  to  con- 
tinue steadfast  in  your  attachment  to  the  chair  of  Peter,  on  which 
you  know  that  the  Church  is  built.  Since  it  has  pleased  Divine 
Providence  to  establish  that  chair  in  the  city  of  Rome,  the  capital 
of  the  pagan  world,  in  order  to  show  forth  in  the  most  striking 
manner  the  power  of  Christ,  he  is  a  schismatic  and  prevaiicator 
who  attempts  to  estabhsh  any  other  chair  in  opposition  to  the 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  171 

Roman  See  or  independent  of  it.  That  Church  was  consecrated 
by  the  martyrdom  of  the  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  who  be- 
queathed to  her  their  whole  doctrine  with  their  blood.  Christ 
our  Lord  has  placed  the  doctrine  of  truth  in  the  chair  of  unity, 
and  has  charged  Peter  and  his  successor  to  confirm  their  breth- 
ren, having  prayed  specially  that  the  ftiith  of  Peter  may  not  fail. 
By  means  of  the  uninterrupted  tradition  of  that  Church,  coming 
down  through  the  succession  of  bishops  from  the  apostles,  we 
confound  those  who  through  pride,  self-complacency,  or  any 
other  perverse  influence,  teach  otherwise  than  divine  revelation 
warrants,  and  attempt  to  adulterate  the  doctrine,  which,  as  pure 
streams  from  an  unpolluted  fountain,  flows  hence  throughout  tli^J 
whole  world."* 

We  see  how  the  bishops  of  the  United  States  maintained  a  cbse 
and  firm  union  with  the  centre  of  Catholicity,  and  how  imbued 
their  teachings  were  with  a  sincere  devotednessto  the  Holy  See  at 
the  very  moment  w^hen  the  tempest  raged  in  all  its  fury  against 
the  sacred  rock  of  the  Church.  After  such  striking  proofs  of  a 
perfect  orthodoxy,  it  is  consoling  to  read  what  the  first  Bishop  of 
Baltimore  wrote  in  1791,  one  year  after  his  consecration : 

"  On  the  7th  of  next  month,"  says  Archbishop  Carroll,  "  our 
clergy  are  to  meet  here  in  a  diocesan  synod  ;  then  we  shall  dis- 
cuss the  mode  of  preserving  the  succession  to  the  episcopacy  of 
the  United  States.  Instead  of  a  coadjutor,  I  am  much  inclined 
to  solicit  a  division  of  my  diocese  and  the  creation  of  another 
bishopric.  One  only  objection,  of  much  weight,  retards  my  de- 
termined resolution  in  favor  of  this  scheme,  and  that  is,  that  pre- 
vious to  such  a  step  a  uniform  discipline  may  be  estabhshed  in 
all  parts  of  this  great  continent,  and  every  measure  so  firmly 
concerted,  that  as  little  danger  as  possible  may  remain  of  a  dis* 
union  with  the  Holy  See.     I  am  very  fearful  of  this  event  taking 

*  C&thcVo  Alrnanac,  1850,  p.  51. 


172  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

place  in  siicceediug  time,  unless  it  be  guarded  against  by  every 
prudential  precaution.  Our  distance,  though  not  so  great  if  geo- 
metrically measured,  as  South  America,  Goa,  and  China,  yet  in  a 
political  light  is  much  greater.  South  America  and  the  Portu- 
guese possessions  in  Africa  and  Asia  have,  through  their  metro- 
political  countries,  an  intermediate  connection  with  Rome ;  and 
the  missionaries  in  China  are  almost  all  Europeans.  But  we 
have  no  European  metropolis,  and  our  clergy  soon  will  be  neither 
Europeans  nor  have  European  connections.  Then  will  be  the 
danger  to  a  propension  to  a  schismatical  separation  from  the 
centre  of  unity.  But  the  Founder  of  the  Church  sees  all  these 
things  and  can  provide  the  remedy.  After  doing  what  we  can, 
we  must  commit  the  rest  to  His  Providence."* 

His  Providence  has  not  been  wanting,  and  the  spectacle  pre- 
sented by  the  hierarchy  of  the  United  States  a  century  after  its 
venerable  founder  betrayed  his  well-founded  anxiety  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  bonds  of  unity,  can  only  inspire  us  with  increased 
confidence  for  the  future. 

Archbishop  Eccleston,  wdio  had  the  honor  of  presiding  over 
five  of  the  councils  of  Baltimore,  considered  the  interest  of  the 
Church  at  large  more  important  than  the  particular  rank  of  his 
metropolitan  See,  and  without  opposition,  accepted  that  division 
of  ecclesiastical  provinces  which  reduced  Baltimore  to  the  same 
rank  as  its  former  suffragans  of  New  York  and  Cincinnati.  The 
seventh  Council  had  asked  that  the  primatial  dignity  should  be 
attached  to  the  See  of  Baltimore,  on  account  of  the  priority  of  its 
oi'igin.  In  a  new  country  like  the  United  States,  an  historic 
existence  of  half  a  centuiy  is  almost  antiquity.  The  Holy  See 
deemed  proper  to  defer  this  official  favor,  but  the  Archbishop  of 
Baltimore  nevertheless  presei-ved  a  sort  of  honorable  primacy, 
and  he  was  specially  invested  in   1853   with  the  functions  of 

*  Brent's  Biographical  Sketch  of  Arclibishop  Carroll,  p.  153. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  173 

Apostolical  Legate  of  the  First  National  Council  of  the  United 
St^ites. 

Archbishop  Eccleston  also  distinguished  his  episcopate  hy  his 
labors  for  the  completion  of  his  cathedral.  To  him  it  is  indebted 
for  the  second  tower  and  the  interior  and  the  exterior  decoration 
of  a  portion  of  the  pile.  The  prelate  wished  to  raise  the  portico, 
the  absence  of  which  injures  the  facade  of  the  cathedral,  but  un- 
fortunately death  did  not  permit  him.  Although  apparently  in 
good  health,  his  constitution  was  very  delicate,  and  God  called 
the  archbishop  to  Himself,  at  an  age  when  he  might  still  hope  to 
render  long  service  to  the  Church.  The  archbishop  visited 
Georgetown  early  in  April,  1851,  intending  to  make  only  a  short 
stay  there,  but  sickness  detained  him,  and  he  expired  piously  on 
the  22d  of  April.  The  calmness,  patience,  amenity,  and  piety 
which  he  displayed  during  his  last  days  were  truly  edifying,  and 
one  of  the  religious  who  attended  the  venerable  sufferer,  wrote  to 
her  companions  some  hours  before  the  fatal  moment:  "Could 
you  have  been  at  our  Father's  side  since  the  beginning  of  his  ill- 
ness, what  angelic  virtue  would  you  not  have  witnessed !  Such 
perfect  meekness,  humihty,  patience,  and  resignation!  Not  a 
murmur,  not  a  complaint  has  escaped  his  lips.  Truly  has  he 
most  beautifully  exemplified  in  himself  those  lessons  which,  in 
health,  he  preached  to  others.  In  losing  him,  we  lose  indeed  a 
devoted  father,  a  vigilant  superior,  a  sincere  and  most  disinterested 
friend." 

To  take  the  mortal  remains  of  the  worthy  prelate  to  his  metro- 
politan See,  the  funeral  had  to  cross  \^ashington,  the  capital  of 
the  Union  ;  the  procession,  which  was  nearly  a  mile  long,  slOwly 
wended  its  way  through  the  principal  street,  chanting,  amid  the 
toUing  of  the  bells,  the  psalms  of  the  ritual ;  the  clergy  were 
arrayed  in  their  proper  vestments,  and  among  the  distinguished 
persons  who  followed  the  corpse  were  seen  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  his  Cabinet,  and  the  members  of  the  diplomatio 


Ittl:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

corps.  Wliile  the  Executive  power  tlius  honored  the  Catholic 
lelij^iou  in  its  pastors,  in  the  face  of  heaven  and  earth,  at  that 
very  time  the  Queen  of  England,  who  has  nine  millions  of  Cath- 
olic subjects  in  Europe,  allowed  her  ministry  to  insult  them  and 
provoke  a  fanatical  agitation,  on  no  better  pretext  than  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  Episcopal  hierarchy. 

"  Archbishop  Eccleston,"  says  his  biographer,  "  was  gifted  with 
talents  of  a  high  order.  He  had  a  penetrating  mind,  which  he 
had  cultivated  by  a  laborious  study,  and  enriched  with  varied 
learning.  As  a  preacher  of  the  words  of  God,  he  was  regarded 
as  eloquent,  graceful  and  persuasive,  displaying  great  zeal  and 
piety  in  all  he  uttered,  and  was  sure  to  enlist  the  undivided  at- 
tention of  his  hearers.  It  may  not  be  useless  to  recoxd  here  a 
fact,  which  is  remarkable  in  the  history  of  the  Catholic  ministry 
in  this  country,  that  shortly  before  his  elevation  to  the  priesthood, 
young  Eccleston  was  invited  to  deliver  a  prayer  at  the  public 
celebration  in  Baltimore  of  the  4th  of  July,  anniversary  of  our 
national  independence.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  appeared 
before  the  vast  assemblage  of  people,  vested  in  cassock,  surplice, 
and  stole ;  and  while  as  a  minister  of  God  he  invoked  the  divine 
blessing  upon  the  nation,  and  exhibited  the  approval  of  a  free 
government  and  popular  liberty  by  the  Church,  he  delighted  his 
immense  audience  by  his  eloquent  appeal  to  the  throne  of  merty, 
and  the  pleasing  manner  of  its  delivery. 

"  In  person  the  archbishop  was  tall  and  commanding,  and  re 
markable  for  his  graceful  deportment  and  ease  in  conversation. 
No  one  ever  approached  him  famiharly  without  being  pleased 
with  him  or  without  an  increased  respect  for  his  person.  His 
piety  was  of  the  highest  order.  No  one  could  look  upon  him 
without  being  impressed  with  the  idea  that  he  was  a  true  prelate 
of  the  Church.  Ever  unostentatious  and  unassuming,  his  great 
aim  was  to  do  good  to  all  men,  seeking  the  will  of  his  great 
Master.     His  study  was  to  please  Him,  regardless  of  the  world, 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  175 

wliich  vvoulcl  willingly  have  heaped  upon  him  its  choicest  honors, 
had  he  not  studiously  fled  from  them."* 

Ou  the  death  of  Archbishop  Eccleston,  t]:.3  See  of  Baltimore 
did  not  long  remain  vacant,  and  by  letters  apostolic  of  August  3, 
1851,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Francis  P.  Keu'ick  was  transferred  from  the 
See  of  Philadelphia  to  the  archbishopric  of  Baltimore.  By  a 
brief  of  the  19th  of  August  in  the  same  year,  the  Sovereign  Pon- 
tiff appointed  Archbishop  Kenrick  apostolic  delegate,  to  preside 
at  the  National  Council  of  the  entire  episcopate  of  the  United 
States.  This  Council  met  on  the  9th  of  May,  1852  ;  six  arch- 
bishops and  twenty-six  bishops  took  part  in  its  deliberations,  and 
the  most  important  measure  wliich  they  proposed  to  the  Holy 
See,  was  to  create  new  dioceses,  in  order  to  multiply  on  the  im- 
mense surface  of  the  American  continent  the  centre  of  action  and 
vigilance,  and  in  order  that,  in  no  point,  the  faithful  be  out  of  the 
reach  of  visits  from  their  first  pastors.  If  there  were  questions  of 
dignities,  rendered  attractive  by  the  honors,  power,  or  liches  of 
earth,  we  might  see  in  this  development  of  the  episcopate,  human 
reasons  and  motives  of  ambition.  But  in  the  United  States,  the 
mitre  is  only  a  fearful  burden,  with  none  of  the  consolations 
which  lighten  it  elsewhere ;  and  the  prelates  are  but  venerable 
mendicants,  ever  extending  the  hand  for  daily  bread,  for  means 
to  raise  the  humble  shrines  that  form  their  cathedrals  and 
churches.  Imagine  one  of  these  missionaries,  on  whom  the  Holy 
See  imposes  the  burden  of  a  diocese,  and  imprints  the  apos- 
tolic character.  The  new  bishop  has  every  thing  to  create ;  he 
finds  only  a  few  priests  scattered  here  and  there,  entirely  insuffi- 
cient for  a  country  where  immigration  periodically  brings  crowds 
of  Irish  and  German  Catholics,  who  are  to  be  preserved,  and  still 
more,  whose  children  are  to  be  preserved  from  the  allurements  of 
error.     He  must  build  a  church  and  a  dwelling,  found  a  seminary 

*  Notice  of  Arclibishop  Eccleston  in  Catholic  Almanac  for  1352,  p.  60. 


176  THE   CATHOUC  CHUKCH 

and  schools,  elicit  vocations  by  his  influence,  and  confirm  thft 
faithful  in  the  truth ;  gather  around  him  Brothers  and  communi- 
ties of  Sisters,  provide  by  unceasing  toil  for  the  subsistence  of 
these  fellow-laborers,  travel  constantly  on  horseback  or  on  foot,  in 
snow  or  rain,  preach  at  all  hours,  hear  confessions  without  re- 
spite, visit  the  sick,  and  watch  everywhere  to  preserve  intact  the 
sacred  deposit  of  faith  and  morality.  Such  is  the  life  of  an 
American  prelate  appointed  to  found  a  new  diocese — a  life  of 
bodily  fatigue,  like  that  of  the  humblest  missionary,  but  with  all 
the  responsibility  of  a  bishop.  Most  frequently  such  duties  are 
accepted  through  obedience  by  him  whom  the  Holy  See  deems 
courageous  enough  to  fulfil  them  ;  and  the  new  diocese  soon  sees 
churches  and  convents  arise,  th^  clergy  multiply,  and  the  priest 
stand  beside  the  pioneer  in  the  latest  clearings.  Such  is  the  his- 
tory of  rehgion  in  America  since  the  commencement  of  this 
century,  and  the  future  promises  that  in  spite  of  the  trials  of  the 
last  few  years,  this  development  will  not  cease. 

By  his  apostolic  letter  of  July  29,  1853,  the  Holy  Father  ap- 
proved most  of  the  propositions  of  the  National  Council,  and  in 
the  ecclesiastical  province  of  Baltimore  he  founded  the  new  dio- 
cese of  Erie,  a  dismemberment  of  that  of  Pittsburg.  In  the 
province  of  New  York  the  Sees  of  Burlington  and  Portland  were 
detached  from  Boston,  and  those  of  Brooklyn  and  Newark  were 
detached  from  the  diocese  of  New  York.  In  the  province  of 
Cincinnati  the  diocese  of  Covington  was  formed  of  the  eastern 
portion  of  Kentucky,  which,  till  then,  had  formed  part  of  the  dio- 
cese of  Louisville.  Tlio  province  of  St.  Louis  was  increased  by 
the  See  of  Quincy,  and  that  of  New  Orleans  by  the  See  of  Natchi- 
toches. In  California,  San  Francisco  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of 
a  metropolis,  with  Monterey  as  a  suffragan  See;  and  finally, 
Upper  Michigan  was  made  a  Vicariate-a]X)stolic.  We  shall 
speak  of  these  different  erections  when  we  treat  of  the  provinces 
and  States  in  which  they  are  comprised. 


IN"  THE  UNITED  STATES.  177 

Archbishop  Kcnrick  convened  a  synod  of  bis  diocese  in  1853, 
and  promnli>-atcd  statutes  based  on  the  decrees  of  the  Council 
and  the  special  wants  of  his  flock.  In  the  following  year  he 
proceeded  to  Rome  to  attend  the  solemn  definition  of  the  dogma 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  in  which  he  was  deeply  inter- 
ested as  a  profound  theologian  and  a  most  devout  servant  of 
Mary. 

On  his  return  from  the  centre  of  unity  he  convened  a  Pro- 
vincial Council,  and  his  pastoral,  issued  at  its  close,  shows  how 
unanimously  and  heartily  the  pastors  and  the  flocks  rejoiced  in 
the  definition. 

His  visitations  of  his  diocese  were  always  productive  of  great 
good ;  being  punctual  and  accurate,  a  close  observer  of  the  laws 
of  the  Church,  he  sought  to  have  his  clergy  follow  the  same 
path.  Quickened  zeal  is  always  seen  where  the  laws  and  spirit 
of  ecclesiastical  discipline  are  most  exactly  observed  ;  and 
Archbishop  Kenrick  beheld  the  wants  of  the  people  supplied  by 
new  or  enlarged  institutions,  such  as  the  Asylum  for  Infants,  and 
for  Aged  Women,  St.  Agnes'  Asylum,  an  extension  of  Mount 
Hope,  a  convent  of  Sisters  of  Mercy. 

His  leisure  hours  were  always  given  to  study,  so  that  his 
friends  complained  that  he  allowed  few  opportunities  for  them 
to  enjoy  his  presence  among  them.  While  Archbishop  of  Bal- 
timore he  completed  the  revision  of  the  current  Catholic  version 
of  the  Bible,  with  notes  of  great  learning  and  value,  especially  to 
^  students.  He  also  brought  out  a  new  edition  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. An  edition  of  the  Bible,  with  notes,  adapted  for  general 
circulation,  was  also  completed,  but  he  was  not  spared  to  pub- 
lish it. 

Ever  anxious  for  the  full  discharge  of  his  duties  as  Archbishop 
he  convened  another  Synod  in  1857,  and  a  Council  of  the  Pro- 
vince in  the  following  year.  His  labor  in  these  solemn  gather- 
ings of  the  clergy  and  episcopate,  as  shown  in  the  acts  of  the 

8* 


178  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Councils,  from  the  time  when  he  first  attended  one  as  a  theo- 
logian, show  his  influence  in  their  truly  Catholic  spirit,  as  well 
as  in  the  elegance  of  the  language  in  which  he  so  often  em- 
bodied the  will  of  the  assembled  bishops. 

He  extended  as  much  as  possible  the  Forty  Hours'  Devotion  ; 
and  one  of  his  last  labors  was  to  take  steps  to  establish  a  suit- 
able retreat  for  clergymen  who,  amid  the  labors  of  the  mission, 
had  lost  their  health,  or  were  incapacitated  by  the  infirmity  of 
age.  He  took  an  active  interest  in  the  establishment  of  an 
American  college  at  Rome,  seeing  no  greater  bond  of  unity  than 
to  have  learned  priests  throughout  the  country  who  had  drawn 
their  inspiration  from  an  education  within  the  shadow  of  St, 
Peter's. 

His  health  gradually  failed ;  and  the  disasters  of  the  country, 
in  which  his  own  diocese  became  a  scene  of  warlike  activity, 
preyed  upon  him  ;  anxiety  was  felt  for  him,  but  no  immediate 
danger  was  feared.  On  the  evening  of  July  oth,  18G3,  his  old 
friend,  Bishop  O'Connor  of  Pittsburg,  was  with  him,  and  left 
him  apparently  no  worse  than  he  had  been ;  that  night,  how- 
ever, he  gently  passed  away :  to  his  flock,  indeed,  suddenly,  but, 
so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  not  unprepared. 

Archbishop  Kenrick,  by  his  theological  and  scriptural  works, 
b}"  polemics  in  which  his  gentleness  and  mildness  are  equalled 
only  by  his  learning,  by  his  "  Primacy  of  the  Apostolic  See,"  as 
well  as  by  his  administration  of  ihe  dioceses  of  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore,  will  always  stand  in  our  liistory  as  one  of  the  greatest 
of  our  bishops. 

His  epitaph  says,  with  justice — "He  adorned  the  archiepis- 
copal  chair  with  the  greatest  piety  and  learning,  as  well  as  with 
equal  modesty  and  poverty." 

The  choice  of  a  successor  to  Archbishop  Kenrick  fell  on  one 
already  conspicuous  in  the  Church.  The  Rt.  Rev.  Martin  John 
Spalding,  whose  defence  of  his  theses  when  he  concluded  his 


MOST  REV.  MARTIN  JOHN  SPALDING,  D.B  , 

Seventh  Archbisliop  of  Baliimare,  Md. 


11^  THE  UNITED  STATES.  179 

divinity  course  at  Rome  bad  attracted  the  wondering  attendance 
of  able  tbeologians,  and  been  described  in  letters  to  all  parts  of 
the  world  as  oue  of  the  most  brilliant  exhibitions  ever  seen,  even 
in  Rome,  had  more  than  justified  the  hopes  formed  for  the 
young  Levite.  As  coadjutor  to  the  holy  Bishop  Flnget,  and  as 
Bishop  of  Louisville,  he  had  displayed  the  greatest  learning, 
the  simplest  piety,  singular  power  of  government,  and  skill  in 
presenting  to  the  American  public  the  genuine  principles  of 
Catholics,  and  the  solid  grounds  on  which  they  rest. 

Of  an  old  Maryland  family,  in  which  the  traditional  teaching 
of  the  early  Jesuit  fathers  had  maintained  the  most  thorough 
and  staunch  loyalty  to  the  Holy  See,  Bishop  Spalding  was  alike 
thoroughly  American  and  thoroughly  Roman.  His  words, 
written  or  spoken,  had  a  robust,  healthy  energy  and  character 
that  carried  conviction  and  inspired  respect. 

When  the  See  of  Baltimore  became  vacant  by  the  death  of 
Archbishop  Kenrick  all  eyes  were  turned  to  Louisville,  and  his 
promotion  by  the  Holy  See  was  hailed  with  joy  by  all,  and  by 
none  more  than  the  faithful  of  the  diocese  of  Baltimore. 

In  his  new  field  of  labor  he  began  by  establishing  a  convent 
of  the  Good  Shepherd,  as,  later,  he  did  a  Boys'  Protectory,  and 
by  completing  the  decoration  of  the  Cathedral.  In  May,  1SG5, 
he  convened  the  sixth  diocesan  synod  of  Baltimore ;  and  at  its 
close  addressed  his  clergy  and  people  in  a  pastoral,  to  which 
he  annexed  the  famous  Encyclical  of  Pope  Pius  IX.  with  the 
Syllabus  of  Errors  condemned  from  time  to  time.  He  laid  it 
correctly  before  all  men,  and  showed  liow,  properly  understood, 
no  decision  of  the  Holy  See,  briefly  summarized  in  the  syllabus, 
was  at  variance  with  any  sound  principle  dear  to  the  American 
people. 

At  the  close  of  the  civil  war  he  used  his  great  influence  to 
excite  sympathy  and  procure  aid  for  the  suffering  dioceses  in 
the  Southern  States. 


180  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

On  the  7th  of  October,  1866,  as  Apostolic  Delegate,  he  con- 
vened the  Second  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore,  which  he  had 
long  and  earnestly  urged.  On  that  day  seven  archbishops, 
thirty-eight  bishops,  three  mitred  abbots,  and  more  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty  theologians  met  in  session — a  larger 
synodical  body  than  had  been  seen  anywhere  in  the  world 
since  the  Council  of  Trent.  The  sessions  of  the  Council  were 
marked  by  great  unanimity.  The  matters  to  be  discussed 
had  all  been  carefully  prepared,  so  that  any  points  to  be  eluci- 
dated were  at  once  seen.  After  passing  all  the  decrees  which' 
the  times  seemed  to  require,  the  Second  Plenary  Council  of 
Baltimore  closed  wnth  ceremonies  as  imposing  as  those  which 
opened  it.  Among  the  persons  of  distinction  who  witnessed 
it  was  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  decrees,  after  examination  and  approval  at  Rome,  were 
published,  and  attracted  general  admiration.  "  I  have  been  able 
to  consult  it  frequently,"  wrote  Cardinal  CuUen,  *'  and  I  find 
that  it  is  a  mine  of  every  sort  of  knowledge  necessary  for  an 
ecclesiastic."  At  the  Council  of  the  Vatican  it  was  in  the  hands 
of  many  of  the  Fathers,  and  referred  to  with  special  commenda- 
tion as  having  thoroughly  seized  the  character  of  the  age  in 
which  we  live. 

Archbishop  Spalding  encouraged  the  evangelization  of  the 
freedmeu  of  the  South,  and  aided  materially  the  labors  of  the 
priest  of  St.  Joseph's  Society  for  Foreign  Missions,  to  whom 
His  Holiness  commended  this  interesting  field  of  mission  labor. 

The  Centenary  of  St.  Peter's  martyrdom  called  Archbishop 
Spalding  and  many  other  members  of  the  American  hierarchy 
to  Rome  ;  but  that,  and  all  similar  gatherings  of  the  episcopate, 
were  eclipsed  by  the  opening  of  the  General  Council  of  the 
Vatican  on  the  8lh  of  December,  1869.  It  was  the  first  council 
held  since  that  of  Trent,  and  while  there  the  English  speaking 
portion  of  the  Church  was  represented  by  only  two  prelates,  in 
that  of  the  Vatican  nearly  one-fifth   of  the  venerable  fathers 


Iiq"  THE  U]SriTED  STATES,  181 

were  from  countries  where  our  language  is  spoken,  and  promi- 
nent among  all  were  Archbishop  Spaldiug  and  several  American 
bishops,  whose  voice  in  the  delibeiatious  was  always  heard  with 
inierest. 

No  greater  evidence  of  the  growth  of  Catholicity  in  America 
could  be  seen  than  that  afforded  by  their  presence  in  a  General 
Council. 

When  the  sittings  of  the  Council  were  suspended  Archbishop 
Spaldiug  returned  to  his  diocese  and  actively  resumed  the 
duties  of  his  exalted  position;  but  his  health  declined  rapidly, 
and  he  died  February  7th,  1872. 

To  fill  the  chair  of  Carroll,  Pins  IX.  selected  the  Ut.  Eev. 
James  Roosevelt  Bayley,  Bishop  of  Newark.  As  nephew  of 
the  illustrious  Mrs.  Seton  he  was  already  known  and  esteemed 
in  the  Diocese  of  Baltimore.  His  life  had  been  given  to  the 
service  of  the  Church,  as  a  priest  on  the  mission,  Professor  at 
St.  John's  College,  Secretary  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  and 
as  Bishop  of  Newark.  A  constitution  naturally  robust  had  gra- 
dually given  way  befoie  the  insidious  assaults  of  disease,  yet,  on 
assuming  his  new  position,  he  entered  at  once  on  its  duties  with 
all  the  hearty  earnestness  of  his  nature.  He  made  several  visita- 
tions of  his  dioceses  and  took  especial  interest  in  the  colored 
portion  of  his  flock.  In  1877  he  went  to  Europe  in  hopes  of 
obtaining-  some  relief  from  the  use  of  the  waters  of  Vichy,  but 
it  was  evident  that  his  disease  was  beyond  control,  and  he  re- 
turned to  the  United  States  and  was  conveyed  to  his  old  home 
in  Newark,  where  he  died,  October  3,  1877. 

When  he  found  that  his  health  was  unfitting  him  for  epis- 
copal duties  he  solicited  the  Holy  See  to  appoint  him  a 
coadjutor,  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  James  Gibbons,  who  had  already, 
as  Vicar  Apostolic  of  North  Carolina  and  Bishop  of  Richmond, 
rendered  great  service  to  the  cause  of  religion,  was,  on  the  29th 
of  May,  1877,  translated  to  that  position,  and,  on  the  death  of 
Archbishop  Bayley,  became  the  ninth  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 


182  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 


THE  CHURCH  IN  VIRGINIA. —DIOCESES  OF  RICHMOND  AND  WHEELING. 

Virginia  was  one  of  the  parts  where  our  holy  religion  first 
h:illowed  the  soil  of  our  beloved  country  by  the  celebration  of 
the  holy  sacrifice,  the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  and,  as 
we  have  seen,  by  the  heroic  deaths  of  martyrs.  Two  Catholic 
chapels  existed,  for  a  time,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  near  the 
shores  of  the  Chesapeake,  sanctifying  the  land  around  St. 
Mary's  Bay. 

The  Congregation  of  the  Propaganda,  by  letter  of  December 
19th,  184C,  made  known  that  the  diocese  of  Richmond,  compris- 
ing the  State  of  Virginia,  would  cease  in  future  to  be  adminis- 
tered by  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore ;  and  that  the  Sovereign 
Pontiff  had  appointed  the  Rev.  Richard  V.  Whelan  to  that  See. 
This  clergyman,  a  native  of  Maryland,  had  for  several  years 
evangelized  the  ungrateful  mission  of  Virginia,  and  we  may  here 
say  a  few  words  of  the  humble  beginnings  of  Catholicity  in  the 
Old  Dominion. 

In  1584  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  sent  out  from  England,  at  his  own 
expense,  an  expedition  which  took  nominal  possession  of  certain 
parts  of  the  American  coast ;  and  on  the  return  of  the  vessels, 
Queen  Elizabeth  herself  gave  her  new  possessions  the  name  of 
Virginia,  in  honor  of  her  title  of  Virgin  Queen,  which  it  is  certain 
she  claimed,  but  not  certain  that  she  deserved.  It  was  not,  how^- 
ever,  till  1606  that  a  colonization  society  was  formed  to  settle 
Vii-ginia,  and  Captain  John  Smith,  with  a  royal  charter  from 
James  I.,  landed  wnth  one  hundred  and  fifty  colonists  in  May, 
1607.*  Anglicanism  thus  planted  itself  on  that  shore,  and  every 
new-comer  who  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  royal  supremacy  wah 
expelled,  while  most  severe  laws  threatened  wnth  death  the  priest, 
and .  especially  the  Jesuit,  hardy  enough  to  appear  in  Virginiji, 

*  Hildreth,  History  of  the  United  States,  i.  99-135. 


IN"   THE    UNITED    STATES.  183 

The  hoar  for  bearing  the  cross  thither  had  not  struck,  and  the 
first  missionaries  who  appeared  were  the  prisoners  of  Protestant- 
ism. In  1G14  two  French  Jesuits,  Father  Peter  Biard  and 
Father  Enuemond  Masse,  having  founded  St.  Saviour's  mission  on 
the  northern  coast,  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Maine,  Captain 
Argal  of  Virginia  destroyed  it  out  of  mere  hatred  of  Cathohcity. 
A  Jesuit  brother  was  killed,  and  the  two  Fathers  were  taken  to 
Virginia,  where  the  governor,  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  for  some  time 
deliberated  on  the  propriety  of  consigning  them  to  the  execu- 
tioner to  be  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered. 

Irish  emigrants  who  subsequently  arrived  were  forced  to  leave, 
and  settled  at  Montserrat  in  the  West  Indies,  long  known  as  an 
Irish  colony.  Sir  George  Calvert  even  was  excluded  from  Vir- 
ginia on  account  of  his  faith,  and  for  that  reason  founded  his 
colony  of  Maryland. 

When  the  Protestants  whom  he  had  admitted  rose  in  1645 
against  their  Catholic  fellow -settlers,  they  seized  all  the  priests 
and  dragged  them  in  chains  to  Virginia,  where  one  of  them  ex- 
pired the  following  year.  Such  were  the  first  relations  of  Vir- 
ginia with  Cathohcity  and  its  missionaries;  but  amid  their 
persecutions,  the  pious  Fathers  doubtless  sought  to  extend  around 
them  the  succors  of  religion,  for  some  Catholics  were  even  then 
to  be  found  in  Virginia,  chiefly  as  slaves  or  indented  apprentices — 
Iiish  men  and  women,  torn  from  their  native  land  and  sold  into 
foreign  bondage. 

After  the  Irish  struggle  in  1641,  and  the  Protestant  triumph 
which  ensued,  the  Irish  Catholics  were  relentlessly  banished,  and 
the  State  documents  of  Cromwell's  time  enable  us  to  reckon  from 
fifty  thousand  to  one  hundred  thousand  forcibly  transported  to 
America.  The  majority  were  given  to  the  settlers  in  Barbadoes 
and  Jamaica,  but  a  great  number  of  women  and  children  were 
also  sold  in  Virginia,  the  men  having  been  pressed  into  the  Pro 
tector's'nsiYy.     In  1652  the  Commissaries  of  the  Commonwealth 


ISi  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

ordered  "  Irisli  women  to  be  sold  to  merchants  and  shipped  to 
Virginia,"  and  these  unfortunate  females,  reduced  to  the  same 
condition  of  slavery  as  African  negroes,  sank  in  great  numbers 
under  the  labors  imposed  upon  them  by  their  masters.  At  a 
later  date  another  class  of  Irish  increased  the  laboring  population 
ic  Virginia — voluntary  emigrants,  driven  from  home  by  poverty, 
and  too  poor  to  pay  their  passage.  These  bound  themselves  by 
contract  to  service  for  a  term  of  years,  in  order  to  pay  the  vessel. 
They  were  called  Redemptioners. 

The  laws  of  the  colony  oppressed  them  sorely,  and  doubtless 
compelled  many  to  leave  as  soon  as  they  were  free.  Thus  in 
January,  1641,  it  was  enacted  that  no  Popish  recusant  should, 
under  a  penalty  of  a  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  presume  to  hold 
any  office.  In  the  following  year  the  same  statute  was  re-enacted, 
and  a  clause  added  requiring  priests  to  leave  the  colony  on  five 
days'  notice.  After  this  the  penal  spirit  seemed  lulled  till  the 
restoration  of  Charles;  then,  in  1661,  all  who  did  not  attend  the 
Protestant  Church  were  made  subject  to  a  fine  of  £20.  The  fell 
of  James  II.  again  called  up  intolerance  in  all  its  rancor.  In 
1699  Virginia  decreed  that  no  Popish  recusant  should  be  allowed 
to  vote,  and  six  years  later  re-enacted  the  law,  making  five  hun- 
dred pounds  of  tobacco  the  penalty  for  offending  against  it.  Even 
this,  however,  did  not  satiate  the  spirit  of  hatred  with  which  the 
minds  of  men  were  imbued.  They  had  oppressed  the  Catholics ; 
this  was  not  enough.  They  sought  means  to  degrade  and  insult 
them,  and  devised  a  plan  which  rated  them  socially  with  their  ne- 
gro slaves.  By  an  act,  unparalleled  in  legislation,  Virginia  in 
1705  declared  Catholics  incompetent  as  witnesses — their  testimony 
could  not  be  taken  in  court.  It  may  be  supposed  that  this  was 
the  act  of  a  moment  of  frenzy  :  this  can  hardly  be,  for  nearly  half 
a  century  later  it  was  re-enacted,  and  to  prevent  any  doubt,  the 
words  "in  any  case  whatever"  were  added.  Thus,  men  who 
signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence  actually  voted  for  the 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  1S5 

most  proscriptive  of  laws.  The  year  1*756,  just  twenty  years  bc' 
fore  the  close  of  British  rule,  marks  the  last  of  the  penal  acts,  and 
it  is  by  far  the  most  comprehensive.  By  its  terms  the  oath  was 
to  be  tendered  to  Papists ;  they  were  not  to  keep  arms  under  a 
penalty  of  three  months  imprisonment,  the  forfeiture  of  the  arms, 
and  thrice  their  value.  The  informer  was  to  have  as  his  reward 
the  value  of  the  arms ;  and  any  Virginian  high-minded  enough 
not  to  inform  against  his  Catholic  neighbor,  incurred  the  same 
penalties  as  the  latter.  By  the  same  law  no  Catholic  was  per- 
mitted to  own  a  horse  worth  over  £5  ;  and  if  he  did,  and  kept  it 
concealed,  he  was  liable  to  three  months  imprisonment  and  a  fine 
of  thrice  its  value.*  Thus,  in  colonial  times,  a  Catholic,  in  the 
native  State  of  Washington,  could  not  hold  any  office,  nor  vote, 
nor  keep  arms,  nor  own  a  horse,  nor  even  be  a  witness  in  any 
cause,  civil  or  criminal.  Priests  were  subjected  to  the  penalties 
of  the  English  law.  For  more  than  a  century  the  Catholics  thus 
scattered  among  the  Virginia  plantations  were  deprived  of  reli- 
gious succor,  and  faith  died  out  among  them,  or  at  least  disap- 
peared after  the  first  generation.! 

Meanwhile  the  Jesuit  Fathers  of  Maryland  visited  with  great 
zeal  the  parts  of  Virginia  least  remote  from  their  province,  and 
one  of  the  most  ardent  in  this  laborious  mission  was  Father  John 
Carroll,  the  illustrious  founder  of  the  episcopal  hierarchy  in  the 
United  States.  When  he  resided  at  Rock  Creek  in  Maryland,  in 
1774,  he  visited  once  a  mouth  the  little  congregation  of  Aquia 


*See  Hening's  Statutes  at  Large,  i.  268  (1641);  ii.  48  (1661);  iii.  172 
(1699);  id.  238,  299  (1705);  vi.  338  (1753) ;  vii.  37  (1756).  All  these  horri- 
ble enactments  were  abolished  in  October,  1776  ;  id.  ix.  164.  Eeligioua 
freedom  was  established  only  in  1784  (id.  i:ii.  84) — a  laige  party,  supported 
by  Washington  and  Patrick  Henry,  being  in  favor  of  an  established  church, 
liildreth's  History  of  the  United  States,  iii.  384. 

t  Some  doubtless  emigrated,  when  able,  to  Maryland  or  other  parts,  so  aa 
to  be  within  reach  of  a  priest;  and  in  the  Life  of  Father  Jogues  we  find  an 
Irishman  from  Virginia  going  to  confession  to  that  holy  martyr,  when,  ai 
New  York  in  1643. 


186  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

Creek,  in  Virginia,  sixty  miles  from  his  residence.  His  two  eldest 
sisters  had  settled  at  Aquia,  having  married  two  Catholics  named 
Brent,  who  had  maintained  their  faith  amid  every  peril,  and 
drawn  other  Catholics  around  them.  This  was  probably  the  first 
organized  parish  in  Virginia,  and  the  name  of  Carroll,  so  eminent 
in  the  history  of  the  Church  in  Maryland,  has  thus  a  new  title  to 
the  veneration  of  the  faithful. 

About  the  same  time  Father  George  Hunter,  an  Englishman,  left 
his  residence  of  St.  Thomas  Manor,  to  cross  the  Potomac,  and  se- 
cretly in  disguise  celebrate  the  holy  mysteries  in  some  Virginian 
cabin.  Father  James  Frambach  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of 
the  Catholics  around  Harper's  Ferry ;  and  one  day  the  mission- 
ary having  been  discovered  by  some  Protestants,  owed  his  life 
only  to  the  fleetness  of  his  horse,  which  swam  the  Potomac  amid 
a  shower  of  balls,  which  the  fanatical  Virginians  discharged  on 
the  fugitive  Jesuit.* 

Soon  after,  however,  the  Rev.  John  Dubois,  afterwards  Bishop 
of  New  York,  landed  at  Norfolk  in  July,  1791,  with  letters  of 
recommendation  from  Lafayette  to  the  Randolphs,  Lees,  and 
Beverlys,  to  James  Monroe  and  Patrick  Henry.  Thus  introduced 
to  the  leading  men  of  Virginia,  he  proceeded  to  Richmond,  and 
for  want  of  a  chapel,  said  Mass  for  the  few  CathoKcs  of  the  place 
in  the  capitol,  which  was  kindly  placed  at  his  disposal. 

Teaching  for  his  support,  Mr.  Dubois  labored  here  for  several 
years,  and  effected  the  conversion  of  Governor  Lee.  Even  after 
his  removal  to  Frederick,  he  extended  his  regular  missionary 
visits  to  Martinsbui'g,  Winchester,  and  indeed  to  all  Western 
Virginia.! 

The  Rev.  Dennis  Cahill  also  about  this  time  labored  in  the 


*  U.  S.  Catholic  Magazine,  iii.  171. 

t  Catholic  Expositor,  1843,  p.  91.  Discourse  on  the  Et.  Eev.  John  Du- 
bois, D,  D.,  by  the  Eev.  John  McCaffrey.  Letter  to  the  Leader  by  a  "  Moun- 
taineer of  1823." 


INT  THE   UNITED   STATES.  187 

ueigliborhood  of  Martinsburg,  and  was  the  instrument  of  receiving 
into  the  Church  a  family  who  were  brought  to  a  knowledge  of 
the  true  faith  in  a  mode  so  extraordinary  that  we  cannoi  avoid 
some  account  of  it. 

About  1'7'79  a  Lutheran  of  German  origin,  Livingston  by  name, 
removed  with  his  family  to  a  place  in  Jefferson  county,  about  fif- 
teen miles  from  Middle  way,  still  called  Wizard's  Clip.  Soon  after 
tliis  his  house  was  haunted  by  a  strange  visitant,  that  burnt  his 
barns,  killed  his  cattle,  broke  his  furniture,  and  cut  his  clothing  all 
to  pieces  in  a  most  curious  and  remarkable  manner.  He  naturally 
sought  means  to  rid  himself  of  this  annoyance,  and  not  a  few  vol- 
unteered to  deliver  the  house.  The  first  who  came,  however, 
were  soon  put  to  flight  by  the  conduct  of  a  stone,  which  danced 
out  from  the  hearth  and  whirled  around  for  some  time,  to  their 
great  dismay.  A  book  of  common-prayer,  used  by  another  party 
in  conjuring  it,  was  unceremoniously  thrust  into  a  place  of  con- 
tempt. Others  tried  with  as  little  success ;  but  at  last  Livingston 
had  a  dream,  in  which  he  saw  a  Catholic  church,  and  heard  a 
voice  telling  him  that  the  priest  was  the  man  who  would  relieve 
him.  His  wife  then  persuaded  him  to  send  for  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Cahill,  who  seemed  rather  unwilling  to  go,  but  at  last  yielded, 
and  sprinkled  the  house  with  holy  water,  upon  which  the  noise 
and  annoyance  ceased. 

Livingston  soon  after  visited  a  Catholic  church  at  Shepherds- 
town,  and  recognizing  in  the  officiating  priest  the  person  whom 
he  saw  in  his  dream,  believed  and  resolved  to  become  a  Catholic. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Cahill  subsequently  said  Mass  at  his  house,  but 
Mr.  Livingston  and  his  family  were  instructed  by  a  voice  which 
explained  at  length  the  sacraments  of  Penance  and  the  Holy  Eu- 
charist, prayed  with  them,  and  frequently  exhorted  them  to 
prayer  and  penitential  works.  These  facts  were  notorious,  and 
the  family  were  known  to  be  almost  ignorant  of  English  and 
without  Catholic  books.     The  Rev.  Mr.  Cahill,  Prince  Galhtain. 


188  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

^rd  his  tutor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brozius,  Father  Pellentz,  and  Bishop 
Carroll  all  investigated  these  occurrences,  which  were  renewed 
during  seventeen  years,  accompanied  even  by  apparitions,  and  all 
considered  them  really  supernatural,  generally  ascribing  them  to 
a  suffering  soul  in  purgatory. 

So  completely  did  Mr.  Livingston  disregard  the  loss  of  his 
temporal  goods  in  consideration  of  the  precious  boon  of  faith 
which  had  been  bestowed  upon  him,  that  like  the  merchant  who, 
seeking  good  pearls  and  finding  one  precious  one,  sold  all  he 
possessed  to  acquire  it,  he  would  have  given  all  to  obtain  it ;  and 
to  show  his  gratitude  to  Almighty  God,  gave  a  lot  of  ground  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Church. 

The  conversions  did  not  cease  with  his  own  family ;  many  of 
the  neighbors  were  also  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  true  faith, 
and  in  one  winter  no  less  than  fourteen  were  converted.  The 
Catholics  were  by  the  same  means  maintained  in  a  more  strict 
observance  of  the  duties  which  religion  enjoins,  and  warned  of 
the  least  neglect. 

Strange  as  these  incidents  may  seem  to  many,  no  fjicts  are 
better  substantiated,  and  a  full  account  was  drawn  up  by  the 
Rev.  Demetrius  A.  Gallitzin,  who  in  1797  went  from  Conewago 
to  Livingston's,  and  spent  three  months  in  examining  into  the 
circumstances.  "  My  view  in  coming  to  Virginia,"  says  he,  "  and 
remaining  there  three  months,  was  to  investigate  those  extraordi- 
nary facts  of  which  I  had  heard  so  much,  and  which  I  could  not 
prevail  upon  myself  to  believe ;  but  I  was  soon  converted  to  a 
full  behef  of  them.  No  lawyer  in  a  court  of  justice  ever  did 
examine  or  cross-examine  witnesses  more  strictly  than  I  did  all 
the  witnesses  I  could  procm'e.  I  spent  several  days  in  penning 
down  the  whole  account."*     The  very  name  of  Cliptown,  pre- 


*  See  Letters  of  Prince  Gallitzin  in  the  St.  Louis  Leader  for  Dec.  1,  1855. 
See  also  liis  work  on  the  Holy  Scriptures,  p.  151. 


TIT  THE   U:N"ITED   STATES.  189 

served  to  this  day,  is  a  proof  of  the  facts  which  gave  rise  to  the 
;\ame.* 

Bishop  Carroll  was  always  alive  to  the  wants  of  this  early  field 
of  his  labors,  and  as  religion  began  to  be  free  in  Virginia,  em- 
ployed one  or  two  priests  exclusively  on  the  mission  in  that  State ; 
but  they  often  met  severe  trials,  and  in  1816  Rev.  James  Lucas,  a 
French  ecclesiastic,  was  sent  to  Norfolk  to  restore  the  peace  of 
the  Church,  troubled  by  the  revolt  of  the  trustees,  who,  having 
the  church  property  in  their  hands,  had  called  in  a  bad  piiest  to 
officiate.  Mr,  Lucas  hired  a  room,  which  he  transformed  into  a 
chapel.  By  his  prudent  firmness  he  soon  drew  around  him  the 
Catholics,  who  left  the  interdicted  church ;  and  the  trustees,  left 
to  themselves,  at  last  returned  to  the  path  of  duty.f 

When  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  erected  the  See  of  Charleston,  in 
1 820,  for  South  Carolina,  he  at  the  same  time  founded  that  of 
Richmond  for  Virginia,  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  Patrick  Kelly  was  ap- 
pointed, as  we  have  stated  in  a  previous  chapter ;  but  the  prelate 
never  went  to  Richmond,  where  he  would  not  have  found  means 
of  subsistence,  so  few  and  so  poor  were  the  Catholics  then. 
Bishop  Kelly  remained  at  Norfolk,  and  had  to  open  a  school  to 
support  himself.  A  year  after,  he  was  transferred  to  the  See  of 
Waterford,  in  Ireland,  and  the  administration  of  the  diocese  of 
Richmond  was  confided  to  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore.  In 
1829,  Archbishop  Whitfield  visited  Richmond  and  Norfolk,  and 


*  Most  of  the  above  details  are  derived  from  a  narrative  preserved  in  tho 
family  of  a  Catholic  neighbor  of  Livingston,  and  witnesses  to  the  whole 
transaction. 

+  The  Key.  James  Lucas  was  born  at  Rennes,  in  1788,  and  had  as  his  pro- 
fessor in  theology,  Simon  Brute,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Vincennes.  Ordained 
in  1812,  he  came  to  the  United  States  in  1815,  and  was  almost  immediately 
Bcnt  to  Norfolk.  Mr.  Lucas  left  that  place  on  the  arrival  of  Bishop  Kelly, 
and  after  being  pastor  of  St.  Peter's,  Washington,  entered  the  Society  of 
Jesixs.  Ho  died  at  Frederick,  on  the  14th  of  February,  1847,  leaving  tlie 
reputation  of  a  priest  full  of  zeal  and  piety,  an  untiring  missionary,  an  elo- 
quent pieacher,  and  a  learned  theologian.     Catholic  Almanac,  1848,  p.  262. 


190  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

in  a  letter,  dated  January  28,  1830,^"'  gives  an  account  of  his 
journey  through  Virginia.  Only  four  priests  then  resided  in  that 
State,  which  was  unable  to  support  more.  At  Richmond,  amid 
the  wealth  and  luxury  of  the  city,  the  Catholics  had  only  an 
humble  wooden  chapel.  At  Norfolk,  where  the  church  was  more 
decent,  the  prelate  confirmed  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  per- 
sons, and  learned  that  the  faithful  numbered  over  six  hundred. 
In  his  letter  of  September  16th,  1832,  Archbishop  Whitfield  an- 
nounces that  he  had  sent  to  Virginia  a  zealous  missionary. 
"  This  priest  has-  traversed  the  State ;  he  has  everywhere  found 
the  Protestants  ready  to  hear  him;  they  offered  him  their 
churches,  town-halls,  and  other  public  buildings,  inviting  him  to 
preach  there,  and  this  is  not  surprising.  The  mass  of  the  people, 
divided  into  almost  countless  sects,  now  knows  not  what  to  be- 
lieve ;  and  by  dint  of  wishing  to  judge  for  themselves,  end  by  no 
longer  having  any  idea  what  to  believe  of  the  contradictory  doc- 
trines taught  them  ;  the  rich  become  atheists,  deists,  philosopher. 
How  unhappy  it  is  to  be  unable  to  send  missionaries  into  this 
State,  which  is  as  large  as  England  !  There  is  no  doubt  that  if 
we  had  laborers  and  means,  prodigies  would  be  effected  in  that 
vast  and  uncultivated  field."f 

This  progress,  though  slow,  was  real ;  and  in  1838  Archbishop 
Eccleston  was  able  to  announce  that  there  were  nine  thousand 
Catholics  in  the  State,  and  that  they  possessed  eight  churches. 
It  was  still  a  very  feeble  religious  establishment ;  but  no  more  is 
needed  in  America  to  begin  a  diocese,  and  in  consequence  of  the 
bulls  of  the  Holy  Father,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Richard  Vincent  Whelan, 
born  at  Baltimore  on  the  28th  of  January,  1809,  was  consecrated 
in  his  native  city  Bishop  of  Richmond  on  the  21st  of  March,  1841. 
The  new  prelate  made  great  sacrifices  to  open  a  diocesan  semi- 
nary ;  and  the  commencement  seemed  to  justify  his  hopes.     On 

*  Annales  de  lu  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  iv.  245.  +  Idem,  v.  721. 


IN   THE    UlS'ITED   STATES.  191 

the  1st  of  Janiiaiy,  1842,  lie  conferred  minor  orders  at  RiclimoDd, 
and  the  following-  year  six  pious  young  men  received  tho,  tonsure 
at  bis  hands.  But  in  spite  of  the  services  rendered  to  the  diocese 
by  this  seminary,  the  expense  was  too  great  for  the  prelate's  feeble 
resources,  and  in  184G  Bishop  Whelan  resolved  to  close  it,  and 
send  the  young  levites,  destined  to  the  priesthood,  to  Ireland!  or 
Baltimore.  Before  his  consecration  the  Bishop  of  Richmond  had 
installed  three  Sisters  of  Charity,  from  Emmitsburg,  in  his  parish 
of  Martinsburg.  He  soon  confided  to  them  an  orphan  asylum  at 
Richmond  and  a  school  at  Norfolk ;  this  last  city  especially  con- 
soled him,  and  he  several  times  visited  it  to  confirm  new  converts 
to  the  faith.  Richmond  did  not,  however,  offer  the  same  re- 
sources, and  in  1846  Bishop  Whelan  resolved  to  fix  his  residence 
at  Wheeling,  where  the  Catholic  population  was  becoming  more 
important.  The  great  distance  of  the  two  cities  from  each  other 
made  it,  however,  desirable  that  Richmond  should  not  be  de- 
prived of  the  presence  of  a  bishop.  The  Fathers  of  the  seventh 
Council  of  Baltimore  accordingly,  in.  1849,  asked  that  Virginia 
should  be  divided  into  two  dioceses.  The  Hoi}'-  See  consented, 
and  by  a  bull  of  July  23,  1850,  transferred  Bishop  Whelan  to  the 
See  of  Wheehngj  as  he  bad  wished,  and  called  the  Rev.  John 
McGill  to  the  See  of  Richmond,  which  now  comprised  all  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  State.  This  prelate  is  a  native  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  acquired  a  reputation  for  science  and  eloquence  at 
Louisville^  where  be  was  long  pastor,  and  where  he  published 
several  controversial  and  theological  works.  At  the  present  time 
(1855)  the  diocese  of  Richmond  contains  eleven  churches,  ten 
ecclesiastics,  and  a  population  of  about  nine  thousand  Catholics. 
Wheeling  was  so  called  after  a  Catholic  priest  of  the  name  of 
Whelam,  who,  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  officiated  in  West- 
ern Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  and  who  having  by  baptism  re- 
lieved a  child  whom  all  regarded  as  possessed,  the  father  of  the 
child  gave  the  name  of  Whelan  to  the  town. 


192  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

But  we  cannot  close  this  brief  notice  of  Catholicity  in  the  dio- 
cese of  Richmond  without  alluding  to  the  labors  and  services  of 
some  of  the  more  eminent  clergymen  who  have  toiled  in  extend- 
ing Catholicity  in  the  Old  Dominion,  and  whom  we  have  not  yet 
had  occasion  to  name.  From  1829  to  1836,  though  the  cholera 
twice  ravaged  his  extended  parish  and  thrice  pror^trated  him,  the 
Rev.  John  B.  Gildea  labored  with  the  most  commendable  zeal  and 
beneficial  results  in  Martinsburg,  Harper's  Ferry,  and  other  places, 
completing  two  churches  and  erecting  one  other.  Zealous,  espe- 
cially for  the  diffusion  of  a  knowledge  of  our  doctrines,  he  did  all 
in  his  power  to  disseminate  short  popular  explanations,  and  subse- 
quently was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Catholic  Tract  Society. 

But  the  most  illustrious  of  the  Virginian  clergy  was  the  Rev. 
Francis  Devlin,  a  martyr  of  charity  during  the  yellow  fever  which 
made  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth  a  desert  in  1855.  Mr.  Devlin  had 
just  been  assailed  by  a  slanderer  in  the  public  papers,  and  Catho- 
licity, in  the  persons  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  had  been  assailed 
by  a  romantic  g'irl  and  her  crafty  advisers.  An  example  was 
needed  of  what  Catholicity  was  in  the  hour  of  trial.  Mr.  Devlin 
refuted  the  slanders  of  the  enemies  of  truth  by  his  faithful  dis- 
charge of  the  duties  of  a  good  shepherd,  who,  when  the  hireling 
flieth  because  he  is  a  hireling,  remains  and  lays  down  his  life  for 
his  flock.  From  the  first  moment  of  the  appearance  of  the  epi- 
demic, he  was  unwearied  in  his  exertions,  bearing  alike  temporal 
and  spiritual  succor  to  the  poor.  By  his  appeals  he  stimulated 
the  charity  of  Catholics  in  other  parts,  and  drew  several  Jesuit 
Fathei-s  from  Georgetown  to  aid  him.  Night  and  day  he  was 
beside  the  sick,  especially  the  poorest  and  most  deserted.  When 
no  other  was  there  to  relieve  them,  he  performed  all  the  duties  of 
a  nurse,  arranging  their  beds,  bringing  from  his  dwelling  soups 
and  drinks  which  he  had  made.  At  length  he  was  himself 
stricken  down,  but  though  timely  aid  broke  the  fever,  he  could 
not  bear  to  lie  on  his  couch  while  others  were  dying ;  before  he 


m  THE   UNITED  STATES.  193 

had  recovered  he  was  again  by  the  bedside  of  the  sick,  and  laid 
down  his  life  on  the  9th  of  October,  in  the  fortieth  year  of  his  age. 
In  the  same  month  the  rights  of  the  confessional  were  brought 
before  the  tribunals  of  Virginia,  as  they  had  nearly  fifty  years 
previously  before  those  of  New  York,  and  with  a  like  result.  A 
man  nj^med  John  Cronin,  impelled  by  jealousy,  gave  his  wife  a 
deadh  wound.  The  Very  Rev.  John  Teeling,  a  Catholic  clergy- 
man uf  Richmond,  who  attended  her  on  her  death-bed,  was  called 
as  a  -iritness  on  the  trial  before  the  Superior  Court,  and  asked  the 
subsr.ance  of  her  sacramental  confession  to  him.  This  he  modestly 
but  firmly  declined.  "  Any  statement,  made  in  her  sacramental 
confession,  whether  inculpatory  or  exculpatory  of  the  prisoner,  I 
am  not  at  liberty  to  reveal."  The  question  was  again  and  again 
put  in  various  forms,  but  the  Rev.  Mr.  Teeling  refused  as  before, 
and  at  last,  in  a  short  address,  explained  to  the  Court  his  motives 
and  the  obligation  of  secrecy  which  the  Church  imposes  on  con- 
fessors. His  statement  was  listened  to  with  the  utmost  attention, 
and  made  an  evident  impression  on  all  present.  The  question  then 
came  up  whether  a  proper  foundation  had  been  laid  for  the  intro- 
duction of  the  woman's  declaration  in  confession  as  a  dying  decla- 
ration. Judge  John  A.  Meredith,  who  presided,  decided  in  the 
negative  ;  but  as  the  question  had  been  raised,  gave  his  opinion  on 
the  admissibihty  of  the  confession,  and  decided  against  it.  "  I 
regard,"  says  the  Judge,  "  any  infringement  upon  the  tenets  of  any 
denomination  as  a  violation  of  the  fundamental  law,  which  guaran- 
tees perfect  freedom  to  all  classes  in  the  exercise  of  their  religion. 
To  encroach  upon  the  confessional,  which  is  well  understood  to 
be  regarded  as  a  fundamental  tenet  in  the  Catholic  Church, 
would  be  to  ignore  the  Bill  of  Rights,  so  far  as  it  is  applicable  to 
that  Church.  In  vnew  of  these  circumstances,  as  well  as  of  other 
considerations  connected  with  the  subject,  I  feel  no  hesitation  in 
ruling  that  a  priest  enjoys  a  pri\nlege  of  exemption  from  revealing 
what  is  communicated  to  him  in  the  confessional." 

9 


194  THE  CATHOLIC  CHUilCH 

Under  the  care  of  the  learned  Bishop  McGill  religion  pro- 
gressed, though  surrounded  by  difficulties.  The  ancient  Order 
of  St.  Benedict  entered  the  diocese,  and  began  to  assume  the 
care  of  the  German  congregations;  new  churches  were  erected 
in  Richmond,  Fredericksburg,  Fairfax  Station,  Marti nsburg,  and 
Norfolk,  and  others  began  at  Old  Point  Comfort  and  Staunton, 
and  in  the  early  part  of  18G1  there  were  twelve  priests  and 
fifteen  churches,  with  two  academies,  as  many  asylums,  an 
hospital,  an  infirmary,  and  several  parochial  schools. 

In  1855  he  assembled  in  his  Cathedral,  which  he  had  just  en- 
larged and  beautified,  the  first  Diocesan  Synod  ever  held  in 
Virginia.  It  met  on  the  loth  of  October,  and  included  ten 
priests. 

About  the  same  time  the  Bishop  carried  on  an  able  contro- 
versy with  the  editor  of  the  Richmond  Whig,  and  soon  after 
published  "  Our  Faith,  the  Victory,"  a  treatise  on  the  Catholic 
faith. 

The  terrible  civil  war  which  Providence  permitted  to  scourge 
the  country  made  the  diocese  of  Richmond  a  battle-field,  and 
more  Catholics  died  on  its  soil  than  had  ever  previously  lived 
within  its  limits. 

When  peace  at  last  came  all  w^as  desolation :  churches  had 
been  destroyed,  or  were  racked  and  shattered  ;  the  Catholics 
were  scattered  and  impoverished.  At  Bath  and  Winchester 
the  little  tiock  could  not  hope  to  rebuild  their  ruined-churches; 
but  the  bishop  went  to  work  full  of  hope;  a  theological  semi- 
nary, academies,  and  schools  were  opened ;  Catholics  began  to 
,  settle  in  Virginia,  and  new  churches  were  erected  or  begun. 
In  1866,  a  community  of  Visitation  Nuns  was  established  in 
the  Ellet  mansion.  Church  Hill,  Richmond,  purchased  for  them 
by  Bishop  ISLcGill,  and  their  academy  has  been  of  the  highest 
character.  When  Bishop  McGill  died,  January  14,  1872,  a 
happier  future  seemed  in  store  for  his  diocese. 


I]!^"  THE  UNITED  STATES.  195 

On  the  30th  of  July  the  Holy  See  translated  to  Richmond 
the  Rt.  Rev.  James  Gibbons,  Bishop  of  Adiamyttum,  who,  as 
Vicar  Apostolic  of  North  Carolina,  had  given  the  Church  a  new 
life  in  that  State. 

A  fresh  impulse  was  given  to  the  Church :  Harrisonburg, 
Lexington,  Liberty  Falls  Church,  were  soon  possessed  of  suit- 
able edifices  for  worship ;  Buckner's  Station,  Pawpaw,  and 
Culpepper  hastened  to  follow  the  example.  Parochial  stthools 
sprang  up  in  all  parts  of  the  diocese ;  the  Little  Sisters  of  the 
Poor  opened  an  Asylum  for  the  Aged  in  a  house  given  by  a 
generous  Catholic,  W.  S.  Caldwell. 

The  Cathedral  school,  a  fine  building,  was  erected  at  the  cost 
of  $21,000  in  1872,  and  a  fine  new  orphan  asylum  at  Rich- 
mond in  1874. 

But  the  diocese  did  not  long  enjoy  the  presence  of  Bishop 
Gibbons,  who  was  called  to  Baltimore  in  1877.  The  Holy  See 
then  raised  to  the  position  the  Rev.  John  J.  Keane  of  Baltimore, 
who  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Richmond. 

The  diocese  of  Wheeling,  including  the  rest  of  Virginia,  had 
its  progress.  In  1848  eight  Sisters  of  the  Visitation  proceeded 
from  Maryland  to  Wheeling,  and  opened  an  academy  in  that 
city ;  and  in  1853  an  hospital  was  established  under  the  Sisters 
of  St.  Joseph.  The  high  standard  of  the  academy  was  a  point 
dear  to  the  bishop,  and  it  soon  attained  the  most  flattering 
reputation  as  a  seat  of  learning. 

In  1861  the  diocese  contained  thirteen  priests,  who  ministered 
to  twenty  churches  and  forty  stations,  two  academies,  and  six 
parochial  schools.  In  the  civil  war  this  diocese  suffered  less 
than  that  of  Richmond  :  it  had  not  to  deplore  the  ruin  of  sanc- 
tuaries ;  on  the  contrary,  the  influx  of  a  new  population  seemed 
to  give  strength  to  the  Church,  for,  after  three  years  of  war,  we 
find,  in  1864,  more  priests,  more  cliurches,  and  others  begun. 

The  progress  was  not  illusory  ;  year  by  year  the  Catholic  body 


196  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

increased,  a  college  was  opened  in  Wheeling  in  18G6  ;  a  classical 
academy  for  boys  and  a  Visitation  academy  for  girls  were  begun 
at  Parkersbui-g,  and  the  parish  schools  contained  more  than 
a  thousand  pupils.  In  1871  the  number  of  priests  had  risen  to 
twenty-six,  the  churches  had  more  than  doubled  in  a  decade, 
and  now  numbered  forty-two,  while  the  Catholics  of  West 
Virginia  had  greatly  increased. 

Bishop  Whelan  saw  still  greater  increase  before  his  death, 
which  occurred  July  7,  1874,  after  having,  as  Bishop  of  Rich- 
mond and  Wheeling,  for  thirty-three  years  given  an  example  of 
piety,  zeal  and  energy.  The  diocese,  during  the  vacancy,  was 
administered  by  the  Very  Rev.  H.  F.  Parke,  of  Parkersburg, 
until  May  23,  1875,  when  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  Joseph  Kain, 
who  had  been  appointed  to  the  See,  was  consecrated.  Known 
as  a  priest  of  learning,  decision,  and  ability,  he  was  welcomed  by 
the  diocese.  In  1878  it  had  fifty-three  churches  and  thirty 
priests,  instead  of  the  four  priests  and  as  many  churches  at  the 
erection  of  the  See  in  1850. 

DELAWARE. — DIOCESE   OF  WILMINGTON. - 

In  1868  the  diocese  of  Wilmington  was  formed,  comprising 
Delaware,  with  Maryland,  and  Virginia  east  of  Chesapeake  Bay. 

The  Right  Rev.  Thomas  A.  Becker,  D.D.,  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Wilmington,  August  16th,  1868.  We  have  alluded, 
on  page  249,  to  the  origin  of  Catholicity  in  Delaware.  The 
Rev.  Patrick  Kenny,  who  may  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of 
the  Church  in  Wilmington,  died  March  22d,  1840,  aged  79,  at 
St.  Peter's  church.  The  Rev.  Patrick  Reilly,  who  labored  as  early 
as  1834,  and  founded  St.  Mary's  Seminary  in  1839,  is  still  on 
the  mission.  In  1833  the  Sisters  of  Charity  began  an  orphan 
asylum,  and  an  academy. 

The  new  diocese  contained  fourteen  churches  and  thirteen 
priests.  Bishop  Becker  introduced  the  Visitation  Nuns,  the 
Benedictine  Fathers,  with  nuns  of  the  same  order,  and  Sisters  of 
St.  Francis  directing  schools;  and  had,  in  1878,  twenty-three 
churches,  for  a  Catholic  population  of  12,500. 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  197 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

PENNSYLVANIA (1680-1810). 

Ilret  missions  at  Philadelphia,  Goshenhonpen,  Co  .e'^'ago,  Lancaster— Influence  ol 
French  intervention  in  securing  respect  and  toleration  for  Catholicity — Tho  Augus- 
dnians  in  Pennsylvania — The  Franciscans— Schism  in  the  German  Church  of  tho 
Holy  Trinitj' — Foundation  of  the  episcopal  See  of  Philadelphia. 

The  Englisli  Jesuits  in  Maryland  did  not  limit  their  care  to 
tlie  missions  regularly  assigned  to  them.  We  have  seen  them,  in 
the  ardor  of  their  zeal,  brave  persecution  and  death  in  the  neigh- 
bonng  colony  of  Virginia,  seeking  the  few  Catholics  scattered 
over  its  vast  surface.  The  same  apostolic  spirit  led  to  Pennsyl- 
vania the  missionaries  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  They  extended 
their  sphere  of  action  to  the  north  as  well  as  to  the  south  of  their 
residences ;  hence,  after  sketching  the  history  of  the  Church  in 
the  diocese  of  Baltimore,  we  naturally  pass  to  the  relation  of  the 
commencement  of  the  faith  in  the  province  which  formed  the  dio- 
cese of  Philadelphia. 

The  peaceful  sect  of  Friends  reveres  as  its  founder  the  shoe- 
maker, George  Fox,  who  began  his  preaching  at  Nottingham  in 
1649.  Persecuted  by  the  partisans  of  Anglicanism,  the  Quakers 
resolved  to  seek  a  refuge  in  America,  as  the  Puritans  had  re- 
solved to  do  in  1620 ;  and  in  16Y5  3,  company  of  Friends  pur- 
chased of  Lord  Berkeley  the  western  pavt  of  New  Jersey,  lying 
on  the  Delaware  river.  In  1680,  William  Penn  obtained  a  grant 
of  the  right  bank  of  the  same  river,  and  King  Charles  11.,  in  his 
charter,  gave  the  new  colony  the  name  of  Pennsylvania. 

Notwithstanding  his  distinguished  birth  and  vast  fortune,  Penn, 


19S  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

who  liad  been  educated  at  tlie  Calvinist  college  at  Saiimur  in 
France,  was  seduced  by  the  philanthropical  ideas  of  the  innova- 
tors. A  son  of  the  brave  Admiral  Penn  who  had  wrested  Ja- 
maica from  the  Spaniards,  he  had  inherited,  as  part  of  his 
patrimony,  a  large  claim  against  the  crown.  Charles  IL,  who 
spent  his  money  in  other  pursuits  than  the  payment  of  his  debts 
or  those  of  the  nation,  discharged  this  by  giving  William  Penn  a 
colony,  and  the  latter,  wishing  to  take  possession,  landed  in 
America  in  October,  1682.* 

The  new  proprietor  explored  the  country  on  the  Delaware,  in 
order  to  select  a  spot  suitable  for  the  establishment  of  the  new 
colony,  and  in  the  month  of  January,  1683,  he  laid  out  the  plan 
of  Philadelphia,  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love.  The  preceding 
month,  the  principal  settlers  had  met  in  convention  at  Chester, 
and  under  the  guidance  of  Penn,  had  enacted  as  the  law  of  Penn- 
sylvania, that  as  God  is  the  only  judge  of  man's  conscience,  every 
Christian,  without  distinction  of  sect,  should  be  eligible  to  public 
employments.  The  only  restriction  on  individual  liberty  estab- 
lished by  the  rigid  Quakers  was  the  prohibition  of  all  balls,  thea- 
tres, masquerades,  cock  and  bull  fights  ;f  and  we  cannot  blame 
them  for  endeavoring  to  banish  these  occasions  of  vice  and  disor- 
der. The  toleration  of  William  Penn,  an  imitation  of  Lord  Bal- 
timore's, is  a  striking  contrast  to  the  Protestant  fanaticism  which 
then  obtained  in  New  England  and  Virginia.  The  colony  in- 
creased rapidly,  and  the  immigration  was  not  confined  to  the 
natives  of  England  and  Germany,  where  the  doctrines  of  Quaker- 
ism had  made  progress  Irish  Catholics  hoped  to  find  liberty  of 
worship  in  Pennsylvania,  nor  were  they  deceived  by  the  inten- 
tions of  the  honored  founder  of  that  colony ;  but  the  Protestant 
Bishop  of  London  had  inserted  in  the  charter  a  provision  guar- 
anteeing in  Pennsylvania  security  for  the  Church  established  by 

♦  Bancroft,  History  of  the  United  States,  ii.  848.  f  Idem. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  109 

law,  and  as  Anglicanism  feels  secure  only  where  Catholicity  is 
banished  or  oppressed,  this  clause  long  fettered' the  liberty  of  the 
fjiithful  at  PhiUidelphia  and  its  neighborhood. 

The  true  faith  seems,  however,  to  have  been  tolerated  in  Penn- 
sylvania from  the  very  first,  and  indeed  Penn  was  too  close  a 
friend,  and  afterwards  too  devoted  a  subject  of  the  Catholic  king, 
James  II.,  to  have  been  unfriendly  to  Catholics.  The  first  Cath- 
olic settlers  were  doubtless  attended  by  a  priest,  as  those  of  Mary- 
land had  been  by  Father  White;  for  in  1686 — that  is,  three 
years  after  the  founding  of  Philadelphia — WilHam  Penn  mentions 
an  old  priest  among  the  inhabitants.  In  1708,  in  a  letter  ad- 
dressed from  England  to  James  Logan  at  Philadelphia,  Penn, 
then  himself  under  the  suspicion  of  the  new  government  for  his 
attachment  to  James,  wTote :  "  There  is  a  complaint  against  your 
government  that  you  suffer  public  Mass  in  a  scandalous  manner. 
Pray  send  the  matter  of  fact,  for  ill  use  is  made  of  it  against  us 
here."  And  in  a  subsequent  letter  he  returns  to  it  in  these 
terms :  "  It  has  become  a  reproach  to  me  here,  with  the  ofiScers 
of  the  crown,  that  you  have  suffered  the  scandal  of  Mass  to  be 
publicly  celebrated." 

Bernard  U.  Campbell,  citing  these  curious  extracts  from  Wat- 
son's Annals  of  Philadelphia,  adds  that  the  first  chapel  where 
divine  worship  was  offered  in  1686  was  a  wooden  building  on 
the  northwest  corner  of  Front  and  AValnut  streets.*  Watson 
speaks  of  a  second  chapel,  built  before  1*736,  on  the  corner  of 
Chestnut  and  Second  streets,  and  says  that  it  was  built  "  for  a 
papal  chapel,  and  that  the  people  opposed  its  being  so  used  in  so 
public  a  place." 

It  is  stated  that  in  1729  a  Catholic  chapel  existed  at  a 
short  distance  from  Philadelphia,  on  the  road  from  Nicetown  to 
Frankfort,  and  that  it  was  built  by  Miss  Elizabeth  McGawley,  a 

*  Life  and  Times  of  Archbishop  Carroll.    Cath.  Mag.,  1&45,  p.  253. 


200  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

young  Irisli  lady,  who  had  settled  in  that  part  with  a  number  of 
her  tenants.  It  is  probable  that  this  chapel  was  considered  as 
forming  part  of  Miss  McGawley's  house,  which  enabled  the  Cath- 
olics to  meet  there  under  the  protection  of  a  private  house. 
Watson  remarks  that  in  a  field  near  the  site  of  this  ancient 
chapel,  a  marble  tombstone  bears  a  cross,  with  the  inscription — 
"John  Michael  Brown  ob.  15  Dec.  A.  D.  Il90.  R.  I.  P."  This 
gentleman  perhaps  married  Miss  McGawley,  and  his  tomb  did  not 
escape  the  fury  of  the  fanatics  who,  in  1844,  set  fire  to  two  of  the 
Catholic  churches  in  Philadelphia.  The  gravestone  was  broken 
by  these  miscreants,  who  sought  to  glut  on  the  memory  of  the 
dead  their  hatred  of  the  living. 

In  the  year  1130,  Father  Josiah  Greaton,  a  Jesuit,  was  sent 
from  Maryland  to  Philadelphia,  and  according  to  a  tradition  pre- 
served by  Archbishop  Neale,  he  entered  on  his  duties  in  the 
following  interesting  way  r  Father  Greaton  knew  a  Catholic  at 
Lancaster  named  Doyle,  and  apphed  to  him  for  the  names  of 
some  of  the  faithful  in  Philadelphia.  Doyle  named  a  wealthy 
old  lady,  remarkable  for  her  attachment  to  the  faith,  and  the 
missionary  soon  called  upon  the  lady,  attired  in  the  grave,  staid 
dress  of  a  Quaker.  After  various  questions  as  to  the  number  of 
Christian  sects  in  the  city.  Father  Greaton  made  himself  known, 
to  the  lady's  gi-eat  joy.  She  immediately  informed  her  Catholic 
neighbors  that  she  had  a  priest  in  the  house.  He  first  exercised 
his  ministry  in  the  humble  chapel  at  the  corner  of  Front  and 
Walnut  streets,  and  in  1733,  aided  by  the  liberality  of  his  hostess, 
he  bought  a  lot  in  Fourth-street,  and  erected  the  little  chapel  of 
St.  Joseph.  The  next  year  the  authorities  took  umbrage  at  this, 
and  Governor  Gordon  made  a  report  to  the  Council  on  the  recent 
erection  in  Walnut-street  of  a  Roman  Mass-house  for  the  public 
celebration  of  Mass,  contrary  to  the  statute  of  William  III. 
Kalm,  the  Swedish  traveller,  who  visited  Philadelphia  in  1*749, 
Bays  that  the  Catholics  had  then,  "  in  the  southwest  part  of  the 


m   THE   UNITED   STATES.  201 

towu,  a  gieat  house,  which  is  well  adorned  within,  and  lias  an 
organ."* 

"  Father  Greaton,"  says  Archbishop  Carroll,  in  a  manuscript 
Btill  preserved,  "  laid  the  foundation  of  that  congregation  now  so 
flourishing.  He  lived  there  till  about  the  year  1750,  long  before 
which  he  had  succeeded  in  building  the  old  chapel  which  is  still 
contiguous  to  the  presbytery  of  that  town,  and  in  assembling  a 
numerous  congregation,  which,  at  his  first  going  thither,  did  not 
consist  of  more  than  ten  or  twelve  persons.  I  remember  to  have 
seen  this  venerable  man  at  the  head  of  his  flock  in  the  year 
1748." 

Father  Greaton  w^as  assisted  for  some  time  at  Philadelphia  by 
Father  Henry  Neale,  also  of  his  Society,  who  died  there  in  l748,f 
and  being  himself  soon  after  recalled  to  Maryland,  was  succeeded 
by  Father  Robert  Harding,  an  English  religious,  who  had  been 
on  the  Maryland  mission  since  1732.  The  late  learned  Mr. 
Campbell  could  not  discover  where  this  Jesuit  was  employed  be- 
fore 1750.  In  that  year  we  find  him  pastor  of  St.  Joseph's, 
and  for  twenty  years  later  fulfilling  the  duties  of  that  post  with 
exemplary  zeal  and  fidelity.  As  a  stationary  assistant,  he  had 
fi'om  1758  Father  Ferdinand  Farmer,  charged  especially  with  the 
direction  of  the  German  population;  and  in  1763,  Father  Hard- 
ing, finding  St.  Joseph's  no  longer  sufficed  for  the  constantly  in- 
creasing number  of  Catholics,  began  the  erection  of  St.  Mary's  on 


*  Kalm's  Travels.  Father  Josiah  Greaton,  born  about  1680,  entered  the 
Society  of  Jesus  on  the  5th  of  July,  1708,  and  became  a  Professed  Father, 
August  4,  1719.  lie  resided  at  St.  Inigo's,  in  Maryland,  from  1721  to  1724. 
After  exercising  his  apostolate  at  Philadelphia  for  nearly  twenty  years,  he 
returned  to  Maryland,  and  died  at  Bohemia  on  the  19th  of  September, 
1752. 

+  Father  Henry  Neale  belonged  to  the  excellent  family  which  gave  nine 
members  to  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  the  last  century.  He  returned  to 
America  from  Europe  in  1740,  and  died  at  Philadelphia  on  the  5th  of  May, 
1748,  in  the  forty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  twenty-fourth  of  liis  religious 
career. 

9* 


202  THE   CATF.CLIC   CHURCH 

pruimd  whic'li  he  had  jiurchased.*  Of  this  estimable  religious, 
Duche,  a  Protestant  clergyman,  writing  just  before  his  death, 
bears  the  following  testimony :  "  He  is  a  well-bred  gentleman, 
and  much  esteemed,  I  am  told,  by  all  denominations  of  Christians 
in  this  city,  for  his  prudence,  his  moderation,  his  known  attach- 
ment to  British  liberty,  and  his  unaffected  pious  labors  among  the 
peoplg  to  whom  he  officiates." 

In  1771,  Father  Robert  Molyneux  was  attached  to  St.  Joseph's 
Church,  and  directed  it  till  1787,  when  he  was  recalled  to  Mary- 
land.f  Father  Farmer  and  he  contracted  a  most  intimate  friend- 
ship, and  they  used  this  harmony  for  the  good  of  religion.  Both 
learned,  pious,  untiring,  they  shared  the  labors  of  the  ministry ; 
and  although  Father  Farmer  was  eighteen  years  older  than  his 
friend,  he  always  undertook  the  distant  missions,  as  Father  Moly- 
neux's  corpulence  rendered  travelling  very  difficult  for  him,  while 
the  former,  by  his  sermons,  produced  a  great  effect  among  the 
Germans  and  Irish. 

While  the  Jesuits  of  Maryland  thus  zealously  occupied  the 
capi'tal  of  Pennsylvania,  they  did  not  neglect  the  country  parts ; 
and  in  1741,  two  German  Fathers  were  sent  there  to  instruct  and 
convert  the  numerous  immigrants  who  arrived  from  all  parts  of 
Germany.  In  that  year,  Father  Theodore  Schneider,  a  native  of 
Bavaria,  founded  the  mission  of  Goshenhoppen,  forty-five  miles 


*  Caspipina's  Letters;  London,  1777,  vol.  i.  p.  136.  Father  Kobert  Hard- 
ing died  at  Philadelphia  on  the  1st  of  September,  1772,  in  the  seventy-first 
year  of  iiis  ige.  Like  all  the  missionaries  of  that  epoch,  his  labors  were  not 
limited  to  tlie  city  where  he  was  a  pastor.  He  went  to  a  great  distance  to 
administer  the  sacraments,  and  certificates  of  baptism  celebrated  by  liim  are 
found  in  New  Jersey. 

t  Father  Kobert  Molyneux,  born  in  Lancashire,  June  24,  1738,  a  novice  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  in  1757,  was  sent  to  Marvland  soon  after  1  is  ordination, 
and  thence  to  Philadelphia  in  1771.  On  the  reorganization  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  in  1803,  he  became  the  first  Superior  of  Maryland,  and  was  twice 
President  ot  Georget^nvn  College.  He  refused  to  become  Coadjutor  of  Bal- 
Umore,  and  died  at  Geoigetown,  December  9th,  1808. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  203 

from  Philadelphia.  He  lived  there  in  tlie  utmost  poverty  for 
more  than  twenty  years;  he  built  a  church  there  in  1745,  and 
ministered  to  a  very  extensive  district,  going  once  a  month  to 
Philadelphia  to  hear  the  confessions  of  the  Germans,  till  Father 
Farmer  was  stationed  in  the  residence  in  that  city.  So  respected 
was  Father  Schneider  among  the  Germans,  even  the  Protestant 
part,  that  the  Mennonites  and  Hernhutters  generously  aided  him 
to  build  his  church  at  Goshenhoppen.  His  apostolic  journeys  led 
him  to  the  interior  of  New  Jersey,  where  fanaticism  at  first  sought 
his  life.  He  was  several  times  shot  at ;  but  these  attempts  to 
shorten  his  days  diminished  nothing  of  his  zeal,  and  he  at  last 
made  his  visits  objects  of  desire,  even  to  Protestants,  towards 
whom,  with  infinite  charity,  he  fulfilled  the  functions  of  bodily 
physician,  when  he  could  not  become  the  physician  of  their  souls. 
A  rehc  of  this  venerable  missionary  is  preserved,  which  attests 
alike  his  poverty  and  his  industry.  It  is  a  complete  copy  of  the 
Roman  Missal,  in  his  handwriting,  stoutly  bound ;  and  the  holy 
Jesuit  must  have  been  destitute  of  every  thing,  to  copy  so  pa- 
tiently a  quarto  volume  of  seven  hundred  pages  of  print.  Father 
Sclmeider  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-four,  on  the  10th  of  July, 
1764,*  having  been  "vasited  in  his  illness  the  previous  month  by 
Father  Farmer ;  and  we  beheve  that  his  successor  at  Goshenhop- 
pen was  Father  Ritter.  At  least.  Father  Molyneux,  in  a  letter  to 
Father  Carroll,  dated  December  7th.,  1784,  speaks  of  Father  Rit- 
ter as  having  been  for  some  years  at  Goshenhoppen,  where  the 
congregation  numbered  five  hundred  communicants.f  In  1747, 
Father  Henry  Neale  had  purchased  at  Goshenhoppen  one  hun- 

*  Fatlier  Theodore  Schneider,  born  in  1703,  and  a  Jesuit  from  1721,  had 
been  professor  of  philosophy  and  polemics  at  Liege,  and  also  Rector  Mag- 
nificus  of  the  University  of  Ileidelburg,  before  coming  to  America.  His 
profession  dates  from  1729. 

t  This  Father  is  apparently  the  one  wliom  Olive  mentions  as  John  Baptist 
Butter  or  Ruyter,  a  Belgian,  who  joined  the  Ezigiish  province  about  1768, 
And  was  s'ant  to  Peunsylvauia,  where  he  died,  Feb.  3,  1786. 


20-i  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

dred  and  twenty-one  acres  of  land,  for  which  he  paid  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pounds  sterling.  The  next  year  Father  Greaton 
paid  the  proprietors  of  Pennsylvania  fifty-one  pounds  for  four 
hundred  and  seventy-three  acres  in  the  same  place,  and  this 
property  still  belongs  to  the  mission  of  Goshenhoppen,  which  the 
Jesuits  continue  to  serve. 

In  1741,  Father  William  Wapeler,*  the  companion  of  Father 
Schneider,  founded  the  mission  of  Conewago,  on  the  stream  of 
that  name,  thus  again  associating  this  local  term  with  the  mis- 
sions of  Catholicity,  as  his  Society  had  already  done  on  the  Mo- 
hawk and  St.  Lawrence.  "  He  remained,"  says  Father  Carroll^ 
"  about  eight  years  in  America,  and  converted  or  reclaimed  many 
to  the  faith  of  Christ,  but  was  forced  by  bad  health  to  return  to 
Europe."  He  retired  to  Ghent,  and  then  to  Bruges,  where  this 
worthy  Jesuit  closed  his  career  in  1781,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 
Another  celebrated  missionary  of  Conewago  is  Father  Pellentz,f 
whose  memory  is  in  veneration  throughout  Pennsylvania,  and  we 
find  that  in  1784  he  numbered  over  a  thousand  communicants  at 
his  mission.  In  1791,  we  find  him  at  the  synod  of  Baltimore, 
filling  the  post  of  Vicar-general  of  Bishop  Can-oil's  immense 
diocese. 

In  1741,  Father  Wapeler  had  bought  land  at  Lancaster,  with 
the  intention  of  building  a  chapel  there.J  Ten  years  after. 
Father  Farmer  was  attached  to  this  residence,  and  remained 
there  in  all  the  poverty  and  humility  of  an  apostle  till  l758.§ 

*  Father  William  "VVapeler  or  Wappeler  was  born  in  Westphalia,  January 
22,  1711,  and  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  1728.  Oliver's  Collection, 
p.  216= 

t  Father  James  Pellentz  was  born  in  Germany,  January  19,  1727,  entered 
the  Society  in  1744,  and  made  his  profession  in  1756.     Idem. 

X  In  1734,  in  consequence  of  fears  of  a  war  with  France,  the  missionary  at 
Lancaster  became  an  object  of  suspicion,  and  the  matter  was  brought  before 
the  Council  by  Governor  viordon.     Watson's  Annals,  ii.  256. 

§  Father  Ferdinand  Farmer  had  translated  into  English  his  German  name, 
Stoenmeyer     He  was  born  in  the  then  Circle  of  Suabia,  Oct.  la,  1720,  eu. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  205 

We  have  seen  liim  exercising  at  a  later  date  the  ministry  at 
Philadelphia,  and  to  him  New  York  is  indebted  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  first  Catholic  congregation  in  that  city.  In  1784,  we 
find  Father  Geisler*  at  Lancaster  with  a  congregation  of  seven 
hundred  communicants ;  and  the  country  parts  of  Pennsylvania 
have  thus  seen  the  holy  mysteries  celebrated  for  more  than  a 
century  in  the  three  chapels  of  Goshenhoppen,  Conewago,  and 
Lancaster.  From  the  origin  of  these  missions,  they  were  in  part 
sustained  by  a  pious  legacy  of  an  English  Catholic,  Sir  John 
James,  whose  will  was  attacked ;  but  as  the  secret  of  his  trusts 
was  preserved,  the  poor,  and  especially  the  poor  Catholics  of 
Pennsylvania,  were  not  deprived  of  his  charitable  aid.  The  sum 
allotted  to  the  Americfm  mission  was  one  hundred  pounds  ster- 
ling ;  but  as  the  principal  was  invested  in  French  funds,  his  pre- 
cious resource  often  in  time  of  war  failed  the  poor  Catholics  of 
Pennsylvania  and  their  still  poorer  missionaries.  The  latter  must 
have  been  in  great  need,  for  they  could  not  show  their  parishion- 
ers the  same  touching  liospitality  then  practised  in  Maryland. 
There  it  was  the  custom  for  the  Catholics  who  came  fasting  in 
order  to  approach  the  sacraments,  to  take  their  meal  with  the 
missionary;  and  the  distance  which  they  often  had  to  go  to 
reach  the  neai'est  chapel  showed  the  propriety  of  this  patriarchal 
custom.  The  Pennsylvania  missions  received  aid  from  those  of 
Mainland,  by  virtue  of  instructions  given  by  the  Provincial  of 
England  on  the  2d  of  April,  1759  :  "The  Superior,  as  a  common 


tered  the  novitiate  at  Landsperge  in  1743,  and  became  a  professed  of  tlie 
four  vows  in  1761.  He  sonfjlit  the  China  mission,  but  to  his  disappoin'-neiit 
was  transferred  to  the  Enijrlish  province,  and  sent  to  Maryland  in  1752.  lie 
died  at  Pliiladelphia  in  1781,  and  Father  Molyneux  pronounced  his  funeral 
oration,  paying  a  striking  homage  to  the  virtue  of  the  holy  missionary. 
Bishop  Bayiey  declares  that  he  died  in  the  odor  of  sanctity.  Catholic  CJiurch 
in  New  York,  p.  42. 

*  Luke  GeisJer,  born  in  Germany  m  1735,  was  sent  to  Pennsylvania,  and 
died  there,  August  11,  1786. 


206  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Father,  must,"  says  Father  Corbie,  "  assist  the  needy  out  of  the 
suipkis  of  the  more  opulent  settlements,  putting  all,  both  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland,  in  the  vita  communis^  or  the  ordinary 
way  of  living,  and  succor  them,  in  their  incidental  losses  and 
burdens,  with  the  bowels  of  true  Christian  and  religious  charity."* 

Such  was  the  precarious  condition  of  Pennsylvania,  when,  in 
1784,  Father  John  Carroll  visited  Philadelphia.  He  had  re- 
cently been  appointed  Superior  of  the  clergy  of  the  United  States, 
with  power  to  administer  confirmation,  and  he  came  to  confer 
that  sacrament  on  the  Catholics,  as  well  as  to  ascertain  the  condi- 
tion and  wants  of  religion  there.  The  sacrament  of  confirmation 
had  never  before  been  conferred  in  any  city  in  the  land ;  many  a 
person  advanced  in  years  now  pressed  forward  to  receive  with 
child  and  grandchild  that  sacrament  whose  vivifying  strength 
they  had  so  often  desired ;  and  the  remembrance  of  that  confirm- 
ation has  been  perpetuated  to  our  day. 

The  faithful  were  then  scattered  all  over  the  State,  rendering 
the  administration  of  the  sacraments  difficult,  and  each  mission- 
ary had  under  his  care  a  district  about  one  hundred  and  thirty 
miles  long  by  thirty-five  broad.  Father  Carroll  was  satisfied 
with  the  piety  and  regularity  of  the  Catholics  of  Philadelphia ; 
he  found  them  well  instructed  in  their  religion,  but  he  saw 
that  the  two  churches,  St.  Mary's  and  St.  Joseph's,!  were  not  suf- 
ficient for  the  size  of  the  congregations,  and  that  the  pastors 
required,  as  they  truly  said,  the  aid  of  nev^  priests.  He  also  saw 
that  the  prejudice  against  Catholics  w^as  declining;  and  Mr. 
Campbell  admits  that  this  result  was  due  in  part  to  the  stay  at 


*  Campbell's  Life  and  Times  of  Archbishop  Carroll.  U.  S.  Catholic  Maga- 
zine, iv.  255. 

t  The  Abbe  Robin,  a  chaplain  in  Rochambeau's  army,  says  :  "  The  Roman 
Catliolios  have  two  cliapels  in  Philadelphia,  governed  by  a  Jesuit  and  a 
German.  They  estimate  the  number  of  their  flocks  at  eleven  hundred  or 
twelve  hundred." 


IN-  THE   UNITED   STATES.  207 

Philadelpliia  of  the  representatives  of  France  and  Spain,  as  well 
as  to  the  presence  of  the  staff  of  the  French  army  and  fleet.  The 
chaplains  of  the  army  had  during  the  war  celebrated  mass  in  the 
city  churches;  and  Congress  mor§  than  once  attended  to  do 
honor  to  the  French  officers.  IntelligcMU  Protestants,  disposed  at 
first  from  courtesy  to  respect  the  creed  of  their  allies,  learned  at 
the  same  time  to  tolerate  it  in  their  fellow-citizens.  Catholics 
had,  moreover,  displayed  their  patriotism  in  the  Revolution.  We 
have  shown  it  in  Maryland  in  the  illustrious  family  of  Carroll. 
At  Philadelphia,  Moylan,  Fitzsimmons,  men  of  eminence,  gave 
the  army  and  Congress  striking  marks  of  their  courage  and 
patriotism,  as  well  as  of  their  devotedness  to  the  true  faith.  Com^ 
modore  Barry,  the  most  celebrated  naval  commander  of  the  Revo- 
huion,  was  a  sincere  Catholic,  who,  at  his  death,  made  a  consid- 
erable bequest  for  pious  uses.  The  ranks  of  the  American  army 
contained  many  Irishmen — one  of  the  Pennsylvania  regiments 
even  got  the  name  of  the  Irish  Brigade — and  when  the  Catholics 
in  a  body  addressed  Washington,  congratulating  him  on  his 
election  to  the  Presidency,  the  General  did  them  but  justice  when 
in  his  reply  he  said:  "I  presume  that  your  fellow-citizens  will 
not  forget  the  patriotic  part  which  you  took  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  their  Revolution  and  the  establishment  of  their  govern- 
ment, or  the  important  assistance  which  they  received  from  a 
nation  in  which  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  is  professed."'^ 

At  the  close  of  the  war  a  solemn,  Te  Deiim  was  chanted  in  St. 
Joseph's  Church,  at  the  request  of  the  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne, 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Court  of  France.  He  invited  to 
it  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  the  Assembly  and  State 
Council  of  Pennsylvania,  as  well  as  the  principal  generals  and 
distinguished  citizens.  Washington  was  present,  as  well  as  La- 
fayette, and  the  Abbe  Bandale,  Chaplain  of  the  Embassy  of  His 
>  '  ■  ' 

♦  Sparks'  Life  and  Writings  of  WaBhington,  xii. 


208  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Most  Christian  Majesty,  addressed  a  most  eloquent  discourse  to 
the  crowded  audience. 

"  Who  but  He,"  exclaimed  the  sacred  orator,  "  He  in  whose 
hands  are  the  hearts  of  men,  could  inspire  the  allied  troops  with 
the  fi-iendship,  the  confidence,  the  tenderness  of  brothers  ?  How 
is  it  that  two  nations  once  divided,  jealous,  inimical,  and  nursed 
in  I'eciprocal  prejudices,  are  now  become  so  closely  united  as  to 
form  but  one  ?  Worldlings  would  say  it  is  the  wisdom,  the  vir- 
tue, and  moderation  of  their  chiefs ;  it  is  a  great  national  interest 
which  has  performed  this  prodigy.  They  will  say  that  to  the 
skill  of  generals,  to  the  courage  of  the  troops,  to  the  activity  of 
the  whole  army,  we  must  attribute  this  splendid  success.  Ah  ! 
they  are  ignorant  that  the  combining  so  many  fortunate  circum- 
stances is  an  emanation  from  the  all-perfect  Mind  :  that  courage, 
that  skill,  that  activity,  bear  the  sacred  impression  of  Him  who  is 
divine.  .  .  .  Let  us  beseech  the  God  of  mercy  to  shed  on  the  council 
of  the  king  of  France,  your  ally,  that  spirit  of  wisdom,  of  justice  and 
of  mercy,  which  has  rendered  his  reign  glorious.  Let  us  likewise 
entreat  the  God  of  wisdom  to  maintain  in  each  of  the  States  that 
intelligence  by  which  the  United  States  are  inspired.  .  .  .  Let  us 
offer  Him  pure  hearts,  unsullied  by  private  hatred  or  public  dis- 
sension ;  and  let  us,  with  one  will  and  one  voice,  pour  forth  to 
the  Lord  that  hymn  of  praise  by  which  Christians  celebrate  their 
gratitude  and  his  glory — Te  Deum  Laudamus^^'^ 

We  have  already  said  it.  Protestantism  can  lay  no  claim  to 
the  honor  of  having  established  the  toleration  which  Catholics 
enjoyed  in  the  United  States  after  the  Revolution.  Policy  and 
necessity  marked  out  the  line  of  conduct  which  was  adopted ; 
and  we  are  not  alone  in  our  opinion.  An  American  historian 
says,  "France,  Catholic  France,  was  now  sohcited ;  she  v.' as 
asked,  and  not  in  vain,  to  lend  her  armies  to  the  cause  of  the 

*  The  Catliolics  during  the  Revolution.  Catholic  Herald,  Philadelphia, 
May,  1855. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  209 

Revolution.  Freucli  troops  lauded  at  Boston,  and  amid  tlie  ridi- 
cule of  the  English  party,  the  selectmen  of  the  capital  of  New 
Eno-land  followed  a  crucifix  throup'h  the  streets !  A  French  fleet 
enters  Narragansett  Bay,  and  a  law  excluding  Catholics  from 
civil  rights  is  repealed  !  French  troops  are  at  Philadelphia,  and 
Congress  goes  to  Mass !  Necessity  compelled  this  adaptation  of 
the  outer  appearance,  and,  perhaps,  to  some  extent,  calmed  the 
rampant  prejudice  of  former  days.  With  a  Catholic  ally,  the 
government  could  not  denounce  Catholicity.  In  the  constitution 
adopted,  it  washed  its  hands  of  the  matter,  and  Congress  refused 
to  assume,  as  one  of  its  powers,  a  right  to  enter  the  sphere  of  re- 
ligion. It  was  left  to  the  several  States  to  have  any  religion  or 
none  but  the  general  government,  the  only  medium  of  commu- 
nication with  foreign  States,  could  always  profess  its  tolerance, 
even  though  tw^elve  of  the  thirteen  should  proscribe  the  faith  of 
Columbus." 

In  1784,  at  the  time  of  Father  John  Carroll's  visit  to  Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania  probably  numbered  seven  thousand  Catholics, 
and  this  is  the  estimate  given  by  the  Superior  to  Cardinal  Anto- 
nelli  in  the  following  year.  In  a  letter  dated  July  22,  1788,  and 
addressed  to  some  citizens  of  Philadelphia,  Father  Carroll  ex- 
pressed his  opinion  that  an  episcopal  See  would  soon  be  required 
for  the  United  States,  and  that  Philadelphia  would  be  the  favored 
city  :  "  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  a  bishop  will  be  granted 
to  us  in  a  few  months,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  Phila- 
delphia will  be  the  episcopal  See."  This  conjecture  was  probably 
based  on  the  fact  that  Congress  then  held  its  sessions  in  that  city, 
and  that  Philadelphia  Avas  considered  as  the  capital  of  the  United 
States ;  but,  as  w^e  have  elsewhere  seen,  the  clergy  summoned  to 
deliberate  on  the  choice  of  the  episcopal  city,  gave  the  preference 
to  Baltimore.  Hmiself  created  bishop  in  1790,  Dr.  Carroll  gov- 
erned Philadelphia  by  a  Vicar-general,  Father  Francis  Anthony 
Fleming,  an  able  controvertist,  w^ho  was  succeeded  in  his  import- 


210  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

ant  post  hy  Father  Leonard  Neale.  Fatlier  Fleming  was  one  ol 
the  first  of  the  Catholic  clergy  to  defend  the  Catholic  cause  when 
assailed.  In  1782,  Mr.  Miers  Fisher,  a  member  of  the  Assembly, 
havino-  remarked  in  a  discussion  that  lotteries  were  like  the  Pope's 
indulgences,  "forgiving  and  permitting  sins  to  raise  money,"  Mr. 
Fleming  called  attention  to  it  as  unworthy  of  a  man  of  standing  ; 
and  the  member,  with  a  degree  of  courtesy  rare  in  our  days, 
apologized  for  any  unintentional  offence  which  he  might  have 
given  the  Catholic  body ;  but  a  new  assailant  having  come  for- 
ward with  the  oft-repeated  tale  of  the  Pope's  chancery.  Father 
Fleming  replied  by  citing  an  equally  authentic  Protestant  tariff, 
in  which  the  crime  of  "  inventing  any  lies,  however  abominable 
or  atrocious,  to  blacken  the  Papists,"  is  forgiven  for  the  moderate 
sum  of  one  penny ;  and  "  setting  fire  to  a  popish  church,"  tvro 
pence ;  which  has  since  proved  a  higher  rate  than  the  w^tty 
Father  set  down.  The  anonymous  assailant  renewed  the  attack, 
and  unable  to  produce  any  evidence  in  favor  of  the  pretended 
list,  attempted  to  raise  new  issues,  charging  Catholics  with  idola- 
try, persecution,  etc. ;  but  Father  Fleming  held  him  to  his  asser- 
tion, and  after  refuting  that,  disposed  of  his  other  charges, 
completely  silencing  the  accuser.  To  remove  prejudice  still 
more,  he  published  the  letters  in  book  form,  for  wider  and  perma- 
nent circulation.  In  reply  to  the  charge  of  persecution  and  in- 
tolerance, he  cited  the  penal  laws  of  England,  Ireland,  and 
Scotland,  and  adds :  "  But  the  greatest  wonder  of  all  remains  to 
be  mentioned.  Tell  it  not  in  Gath — pubHsh  it  not  in  the  streets 
of  Askalon — lest  the  bigots  rejoice  and  the  daughters  of  popery 
triumph.  At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  among  the  en- 
lightened, talented,  and  liberal  Protestants  of  America,  at  the 
very  instant  when  the  American  soil  was  drinking  up  the  best 
blood  of  Catholics,  shed  in  defence  of  her  freedom ;  when  the 
Gallic  flag  was  flying  in  her  ports  and  the  Gallic  soldiers  fighting 
her  battles,  then  were  constitutions  framed  in  several  States  de- 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  211 

grading  those  very  Catliolics,  and  excluding  them  from  certain 
offices.  0  shame,  where  is  thy  blush !  O  gratitude  !  if  thou 
bast  a  tear,  let  it  fall  to  deplore  this  indelible  stigma !" 

Father  Fleming  and  Father  Gressel,  his  companion,  gave  a 
still  better  proof  of  the  claims  of  Catholicity  in  the  yellow  fever 
which  desolated  Philadelphia  in  1793.*  While  that  epidemic 
was  making  its  fearful  ravages  in  that  city,  these  two  Catholio 
priests,  as  usual,  braved  the  disease,  and  devoted  themselves  to  the 
care  and  consolation  of  the  sick  and  dying,  and  both  laid  down 
their  lives  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties — true  martyrs  of  charity .f 

In  1*790  the  faithful  at  Philadelphia  beheld  the  arrival  among 
them  of  Dr.  Matthew  Carr,  a  Hermit  of  St.  Augustine,  belonging 
to  one  of  tlie  oldest  religious  orders  in  Christianity,  and  a  com- 
munity of  which  has  for  the  last  sixty-five  years  uninterruptedly 
exercised  the  holy  ministry  in  Pennsylvania.  The  Irish  and 
English  Augustinians  were  erected  into  a  distinct  province,  early 
in  the  fifteenth  century ;  and  other  houses  were  very  numerous 
at  the  epoch  of  Henry  VIlI.'s  religious  rebellion.  When  the  first 
fury  of  the  persecution  had  spent  itself,  the  Augustinians  who  had 

*  From  Wansey's  Journal  of  an  Excursion  to  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, Salisbury,  1796,  we  find  that  of  fourteen  hundred  and  ninety-seven 
burials  in  Philadelphia,  from  August  1st,  1792,  to  August  1st,  1793,  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy- six  were  in  St.  Mary's,  twenty-nine  in  Holy  Trinity,  and 
one  hundred  and  ninety-four  in  Pottersfield ;  and  that  in  the  following  year, 
that  of  the  fever,  out  of  four  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-two,  three 
hundrer"  and  sixty-seven  were  buried  in  St.  Mary's,  sixty-six  in  Holy  Trinity, 
and  fifteen  hundred  and  ninety-eight  in  Pottersfield. 

t  Father  Lawrence  Loui-s  Gressel  was  born  at  Rumansfelden,  in  Bavaria, 
August  18, 1 758.  During  the  six  years  which  he  spent  in  Pliiladelphia  he  was 
distinguished  for  piety,  zeal,  and  mildness.  Bisliop  Carroll  had  proposed  him 
at  Home  as  his  coadjutor,  and  he  would  doubtless  have  been  appointed  but 
for  liis  premature  death,  which  took  place  in  October,  1793.  The  Rev.  Fran- 
cis Anthony  Fleming  was  a  Dominican,  and  one  of  our  earliest  contro- 
versial writers.  His  little  work  is  entitled,  "  The  Calumnies  of  Verus; 
or,  Catholics  vindicated  from  certain  old  slanders  lately  revived  ;  in  a 
scries  of  letters,  publislied  in  different  gazettes  at  Philadelphia,  collected 
and  revised  by  Vcrax,  with  the  addition  of  a  preface  aud  a  few  notes. 
Philadelphia  :  Johnson  &  Justice,  1792." 


212  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

not  left  Ireland  rebuilt  twelve  houses  on  the  ruins  of  their  formei 
monasteries,  and  at  the  present  time  some  forty  of  these  religious 
display  their  zeal  in  the  first  missions.  In  England  the  White 
Friars  have  not  reappeared  since  the  formation  of  the  Church  by 
law  established.  Those  in  Ireland  long  sent  their  novices  to  the 
convents  of  France  and  Italy,  to  receive  the  sohd  and  extended 
instruction  which  the  misery  of  the  times  prevented  their  receiv- 
ing at  home ;  thus  Dr.  Carr  was  brought  up  in  the  Augustinian 
colleges  of  Paris  and  Bordeaux.  He  was  afterwards  for  several 
years  attached  to  a  church  of  his  order  in  Dublin,  but  in  1790 
came  to  Philadelphia,  and  built  St.  Augustine's  Church,  which 
was  opened  to  worship  and  solemnly  dedicated  in  1800.  Doctor 
Carr  was  successively  assisted  in  the  ministry  by  the  Augustinians, 
Kossiter,  Staunton,  Larissey,  and  Hurley.  He  died  in  1819,  and 
his  successor,  as  Superior,  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hurley,  who  died  in 
1837.  The  Augustinians  have  since  labored  in  various  missions 
in  the  dioceses  of  Newark,  Portland,  and  Albany,  as  well  as  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Philadelphia ;  and  one  of  their  distinguished 
members,  Father  Galberry,  was  raised  to  the  episcopate  as 
Bishop  of  Hartford,  where,  during  his  short  administration,  he 
won  the  respect  and  aflfection  of  all.  The  Hermits  of  St.  Augus- 
tine have  also  founded  the  monastery  and  flourishing  college  of 
Villanova,  where  young  men  receive  a  finished  and  Catholic 
education.* 

*  We  are  indebted  for  these  details  to  the  kindness  of  the  Very  Eev. 
Father  Moriarty,  to  whom  we  express  our  Acknowledgment.  St.  Augustine 
founded  the  Order  of  Hermits,  in  Africa,  in  388,  and  gave  them  a  rule. 
They  were  dispersed  by  the  Vandals  in  428,  and  some  took  refuge  in  Sar- 
dinia, Naples,  and  Languedoc,  where  they  founded  monasteries.  St. 
Patrick,  who  had  embraced  the  rule  in  Tuscany,  before  his  consecration, 
introduced  it  into  Ireland,  where  Augustinian  communities  became  very 
numerous.  Till  1256  they  had  no  common  centre,  but  at  that  time  Pope 
Alexander  IV.  united  them  all,  and  gave  them  a  constitution.  The  first 
General  was  Lanfranc  Septala,  and  since  then  the  Prior-general  has  always 
resided  at  Koine.  The  Ursulines,  Hospital  Nuns,  and  many  congregations 
of  Sisters,  also  followed  the  rule  of  St.  Augustine. 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  213 

At  the  outset  of  this  century,  the  Pennsylvania  mission  re- 
ceived a  precious  reinforcement  in  the  person  of  the  Rev.  Adolphua 
Louis  de  Barth,  who  was  appointed  to  the  mission  of  Lancaster, 
pad  there  displayed  the  most  admirable  zeal.*  In  1802  he  had 
a3  assistant  the  Rev.  Michael  Egan,  an  Irish  Franciscan  of  the 
Gtrict  Observance,  who  had  recently  arrived  in  the  United  States, 
and  both,  in  their  poverty  as  missionaries,  found  aid  and  assist- 
ance in  a  generous  Catholic,  Mr.  John  Risdal,  whose  hand  was 
ever  open  in  the  cause  of  religion.  A  letter  from  Father  Egan 
to  Bishop  Carroll,  dated  Lancaster,  February  10,  1803,  speaks  of 
this  zealous  gentleman,  and  Father  Achille  Guidee,  in  his  bio- 
graphical notice  of  Father  De  Cloriviere,  says  that  that  celebrated 
Jesuit,  while  cure  near  St.  Malo,  in  Bnttany,  from  IVSO  to  1*790, 
converted  several  Protestants  to  the  Catholic  religion,  and  among 
others,  Mr.  John  Risdal.  "  The  return  of  this  gentleman  to  the 
true  faith  was  a  precious  conquest  for  religion,  to  which  he  ren- 
dered important  service,  especially  in  Lancaster  and  Philadelphia, 
in  the  United  States."f 

By  an  apostolic  rescript,  of  September  29, 1804,  Father  Michael 
Egan  had  been  authorized  to  found  a  province  of  his  Order  in  the 
United  States,  but  his  project  had  no  success.  The  young  Fran- 
ciscan was  then  appointed  to  St.  Mary's  Church,  Philadelphia, 
and  there  won  the  confidence  of  Bishop  Carroll.  The  Bishop  of 
Baltimore  beheld  his  administration  embarrassed  at  Philadelphia 
by  the  most  painful  difficulties.     He  had  to  resist  the  pretensions 

*  Adolph  Louis  de  Barth  was  born  at  Munster  in  1774,  studied  at  Bellay, 
and  entered  tlie  seminary  of  Strasburg.  He  was  scarcely  ordained  when  tlie 
Revolution  drove  him  from  France,  and  even  from  Munster,  whence  he  re- ; 
paired  to  America.  He  was  at  first  employed  in  Maryland,  but  was  soon  J 
sent  to  Lancaster.  He  was  Vicar-general  and  administrator  from  1814  to 
1820,  then  pastor  of  Conewago,  and  in  1828,  rector  of  St.  John's,  Baltimore. 
In  1838  his  infirmities  and  years  compelled  him  to  retire  to  Georgetown 
College,  where  he  died  piously,  in  October,  1844. 

+  Guidee,  Vie  du  P.  Joseph  Varin  et  de  quelquee  autres  Pores  Jetfuiteak 
Paris,  1854,  p.  250. 


214:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUUCH 

of  the  trustees  of  the  German  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  who 
claimed  the  right  of  patronage,  and  who  fomented  a  schism  io 
which  they  were  encouraged  by  two  interdicted  priests.  At  last, 
after  five  years'  rebellion,  the  trustees  submitted  to  the  episcopd 
authority  in  1802.  In  the  month  of  December,  1806,  Bishop 
Carroll  addressed  Cardinal  di  Pietro,  insisting  on  the  necessity  ct 
founding  four  new  Sees — Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston,  and 
Bardstown.  Pius  VII.  decreed  this  foundation  by  his  brief  oi 
April  8,  1809,  and  appointed  Father  Michael  Egan  Bishop  o 
Philadelphia ;  but  we  have  already  told  by  what  a  train  of  acci- 
dents and  misfortunes  the  bulls  of  institution  were  prevented  fi'om 
reaching  Baltimore  till  September,  1810. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

DIOCESE    OF    PHILADELPHIA (1810-1834). 

Tho  Rt  Eev.  Michael  Egan,  first  bishop — Very  Eev.  Louis  de  Earth,  administrator— 
El  Eev.  Henry  Couwell,  second  bishop — Schism  of  St.  Mary's  Cliurch— Very  Eev. 
William  Mathews,  administrator — Et.  Eev.  Francis  P,  Kenrick,  coadjutor,  then  third 
bishop— Eeligious  condition  of  the  diocose  in  1S34. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Michael  Egan  was  consecrated  October  28th, 
1810,  in  St.  Peter's  Cathedral,  Baltimore.  Archbishop  Carroll 
officiated  on  that  occasion,  assisted  by  his  coadjutor.  Bishop 
Nejile,  and  Father  William  Vincent  Harold,  of  the  Order  of  St. 
Dominic,  preached  the  usual  sermon.  The  new  prelate  had  been 
recommended  for  this  See  to  the  Congregation  of  the  Propa- 
ganda,  and  was  selected  by  Archbishop  Carroll  "as  a  truly  pious 
and  learned  religious,  remarkable  for  his  great  humility,  but 
deficient,  perhaps,  in  firmness,  and  without  great  experience  in  the 


m    THE    UNITED   STATES.  215 

direction  of  affaii*s."  For  these  reasons  the  name  of  Father  Egan 
was  only  second  on  tlie  list  sent  to  Cardinal  di  Pietro,  although 
at  the  close  of  the  letter,  the  pi'elate  declared  that  he  preferied 
him  to  the  others.  And  Archbishop  Carroll  expressed  himself 
still  more  categorically  in  a  letter  of  June  17,  1807,  where  he 
said  of  Father  Egan :  "  He  is  a  man  of  about  fifty,  who  seems 
endowed  with  all  the  qualities  to  discharge  with  perfection  the 
functions  of  the  episcopacy,  except  that  he  lacks  robust  health, 
greater  experience,  and  a  greater  degree  of  firmness  in  his  dispo- 
sition, lie  is  a  learned,  modest,  humble  priest,  who  maintains 
the  spirit  of  his  Order  in  his  whole  conduct."* 

Bishop  Egan  governed  his  diocese  with  zeal  and  piety ;  but, 
according  to  the  prognostic  of  xVrchbishop  Carroll,  he  was  defi- 
cient in  necessary  firmness,  as  he  showed  in  a  very  serious  con- 
troversy with  the  trustees  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  his  cathedral. 
These  trustees  thus  preluded  the  deplorable  schism  which,  at  a 
later  date,  was  to  desolate  the  diocese.  The  ground  on  which 
this  church  is  built  had  been  granted  to  Father  Robert  Harding, 
in  1763,  under  the  express  condition  of  erecting  there  a  chapel, 
which  he,  in  fact,  did.  The  church  was  successively  transferred 
by  will  from  Father  Harding  to  the  Rev.  John  Lewis,  and  by  the 
latter  to  Father  Molyneux,  and  finally  to  Father  Francis  Neale. 
At  last,  by  an  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  (passed 
Sept.  13,  1788),  a  body  of  trustees  was  recognized  as  a  body 
pohtic,  and  incorporated  to  administer  the  finances  of  the  church. 

In  1810  it  became  necessary  to  enlarge  the  edifice,  and  these 
new  erections  gave  rise  to  conflicts  of  authority  with  the  bishop, 
at  the  same  time  that  the  trustees  set  up  claims  to  be  consulted 
in  the  choice  of  their  pastors,  and  unfortunately.  Father  Harold 
and  his  uncle  arrayed  themselves  in  a  measure  against  the  bishop. 
This  was  the   more  to  be  regretted,  as  the  younger   Harold, 

*  Archives  of  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 


216  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

though  a  man  of  eminent  qualities  and  strilang  defects,  was  fall 
of  real  eloquence  and  virtue,  but  marred  his  transcendent  merit 
by  the  asperity  of  his  temper. 

In  spite  of  these  troubles,  which  shortened  his  days,  Bishop 
Egan  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  foundation  of  a  colony  of  the 
Sisters  of  Chaiity  at  Philadelphia,  to  take  care  of  an  orphan 
asylum.  In  1797  a  charitable  association  had  been  organized  in 
the  city  to  harbor  orphans  whose  parents  had  been  carried  off  by 
the  yellow  fever.  These  poor  children  were  confided  to  a  pious 
lady,  and  lodged  in  a  house  near  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity ; 
but,  from  the  very  first,  resources  were  precarious,  and  the  asylum 
was  maintained  only  by  the  persevering  efforts  of  Father  Michael 
Hurley,  pastor  of  St.  Augustine's  in  1807,  and  by  the  generous  aid 
of  a  layman,  Mr.  Cornelius  Thiers.  It  needed  a  religious  institute 
to  uudeilake  the  direction  of  this  asylum,  and  the  trustees  of  the 
Holy  Trinity  resolved,  in  1814,  to  ask  Sisters  of  Charity  from 
Emmetsburg.  It  was  the  first  colony  sent  by  Mother  Seton  from 
her  rising  community,  and  the  holy  foundress  welcomed  this 
opening  with  joy.  Three  Sisters  were  appointed,  with  Sister  Rose 
White  as  Superior,*  and  arrived  at  Philadelphia,  September  29, 
1814.  They  took  possession  of  the  asylum,  which  contained 
thiiteen  children,  in  rags,  groaning  under  the  weight  of  a  debt  of 
four  thousand  dollars.  Their  early  efforts  were  crossed  by  trials, 
but  three  years  after  they  had  paid  the  debt,  and  the  orphan 
asylum  now  contains  a  hundred  children,  while  the  boys,  to  the 
number  of  one  hundred  and  six,  occupy  another  asylum,  under 
the  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph. 


*  Sister  Rose  White  was  a  pious  widow,  born  in  Maryland,  in  1784,  and 
was  one  of  the  first  to  join  Mother  Seton  to  found  in  America  the  Order  of 
Sisters  of  Charity.  On  the  death  of  the  foundress,  Sister  Rose  was  elected 
Superior-general,  and  was  re-elected  by  her  Society  as  often  as  the  constitu- 
tion permitted,  thus  receiving  a  proof  of  their  c:)nfidence  in  her  wisdom, 
virtue,'  and  aptitude  for  government.  She  died  in  Maryland,  July  25th. 
1 S41. 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  217 

Bishop  Egan  did  not  live  long  enough  to  see  his  diocese 
adorned  by  the  presence  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  He  expired 
on  the  22d  of  July,  1814,  and  on  his  death,  the  Very  Rev.  Louis 
do  Barth  was  appointed  administrator  of  the  diocese.  In  the 
month  of  January,  1815,  Archbishop  Carroll  wrote  to  Rome  to 
ask  that  the  vacancy  should  be  filled,  and  renewed  his  request  in 
the  month  of  July.  The  Rev.  Ambrose  Marechal  was  nominated 
Bishop  of  Philadelphia,  but  he  refused  the  See,  and  the  Court  of 
Rome  did  not  insist,  because  it  wished  to  call  him  then  to  the 
more  important  post  of  Coadjutor  of  Baltimore. 

The  Rev.  John  Baptist  David,  afterwards  Coadjutor  of  Louis- 
ville, was  also  proposed  at  Rome  for  the  See  of  Philadelphia,  but 
he  hastened  to  write  to  the  Propaganda,  to  beg  them  not  to  think 
of  him.  The  abihty  with  which  the  Rev.  !Mr.  De  Barth  adminis- 
tered the  diocese,  next  pointed  him  out  for  the  episcopacy;  but 
such  an  honor  disconcerted  his  modesty ;  he  twice  successively 
refused  the  See,  and  once  sent  back  to  Rome  the  bulls  of  in- 
vestiture. Every  one  shrunk  from  a  burden  rendered  particularly 
heavy  by  the  spirit  of  independence  and  revolt  which  fermented 
among  the  bodies  of  trustees.  At  last,  in  1830,  the  Very  Rev. 
Henry  Con  well.  Vicar-general  of  the  diocese  of  Armagh,  in  Ireland, 
accepted  the  post,  ignorant,  doubtless,  of  its  many  difficulties. 
He  was  consecrated  in  London,  by  Bishop  Poynter.  He  was 
then  seventy-three  years  old,  and  immediately  embarked  for  the 
LTnited  States,  where  the  bitterest  trials  and  cares  awaited  him. 
The  long  schism  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  Philadelphia,  has  been  a 
long  scandal  to  religion,  but  it  is  our  duty  to  relate  briefly  the 
sad  story,  in  order  to  serve  as  a  lesson  to  imprudent  laymen,  who 
believe  that  they  show  zeal  in  exceeding  their  duty  and  invading 
that  of  the  clergy  and  episcopate. 

In  1818  or  1819,  William  Hogan,  a  young  priest  of  inferior 
education  but  good  natural  parts,  who  had  been  dismissed  from 
Maynooth  for  a  breach  of  discipline,  left  the  diocese  of  Limerick 

10 


218  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

and  embarked  for  New  York.  He  was  first  employed  en  the 
ministry  at  Albany,  but  left  that  city,  against  the  wish  of  Dr.  Con- 
nolly, then  l>ishop  of  New  York,  and  was  temporarily  installed  by 
the  lle\'.  Mr.  De  Barth,  administrator  of  the  diocese  of  Philadelphia, 
as  temporary  pastor  at  St.  Mary's.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1820, 
Bishop  Conwell  took  possession  of  his  See,  and  having  had  reason 
to  suspect  Mr.  Ilogan's  conduct  in  Ireland,  on  his  passage,  at 
Albany  and  Philadelphia,  he  withdrew  his  faculties  on  the  20th 
of  December,  1820.  Hogan  continued  to  officiate  at  St.  Mary's, 
in  spite  of  the  censures  of  his  bishop,  and  the  refusal  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Baltimore  to  entertain  his  appeal.  Bishop  Con- 
well  accordingly  excommunicated  Hogan  on  the  11th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1821,  and  in  the  course  of  the  spring,  appointed  as  pastor, 
the  Rev.  James  Cummiskey,  associating  with  him  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Hayden,  whom  he  had  ordained  on  the  1st  of  May. 
The  bishop  and  his  clergy  occupied  the  church  for  some  months, 
though  very  much  annoyed  by  Hogan  and  his  party,  who  threat- 
ened to  take  possession  of  St.  Mary's,  and  finally  did  so  in  the 
summer  of  1821. 

In  August,  Bishop  England,  of  Charleston,  stopped  in  Phila- 
delphia on  his  way  to  New  York,  and  though  he  did  not  wait  on 
Bishop  Conwell,  was  soon  found  to  be  much  prejudiced  against 
the  latter.  While  at  New  York  he  was  visited  by  Hogan,  and 
wrote  to  Bishop  Conwell,  ofiering  his  mediation ;  and  so  deluded 
was  he  by  the  rebellious  priest  and  his  party,  that  he  concluded 
his  letter  by  saying :  "  I  pledge  myself  to  you,  and  I  would  not 
do  so  thoughtlessly,  that  if  you  grant  what  I  ask,  you  will  uphold 
and  preserve  religion ;  but  should  you  refuse  it,  you  will  be  the 
cause  of  its  destruction." 

Bishop  Conwell  by  no  means  approved  the  steps  taken  by  the 
Bishop  of  Charleston,  and  peremptorily  declined  his  mediation. 
However,  when  Bishop  England,  in  returning  to  his  See,  stopped 
at  Philadelphia  in  October,  the  bishop  was  induced  to  yield  to 


IJ^  THE   UNITED  STATES.  219 

his  request ;  and  Bishop  England,  having  promised  Mr.  Hogan  a 
mission  in  his  own  diocese,  obtained  powers  from  Bishop  Conwell 
lo  absolve  him  on  a  proper  submission.  Hogan  readily  promised 
all  that  was  retpired,  and  Bishop  England  absolved  him  on  the 
18th  of  October,  1821 ;  but  the  very  next  day,  Hogan,  hearken- 
ing to  the  fatal  advice  of  the  trustees,  retracted,  again  said  Mass 
at  St.  Mary's,  and  resumed  his  functions  as  pastor.  Bishop  Eng- 
land, who  had  believed  so  implicitly  in  Hogan's  good  faith,  saw 
all  his  plans  thus  defeated,  and  so  far  from  being  able  to  carry 
out  his  promise,  was  in  turn  obliged  to  re-excommunicate  the 
wretched  Hogan. 

This  was  not  the  only  eftbrt  to  restore  peace.  Several  friends 
of  the  bishop,  admirers  of  the  Dominican  Father,  William  V. 
Harold,  once  stationed  at  Philadelphia,  prevailed  upon  Bishop 
Conwell  *o  invite  him  to  return,  fully  persuaded  that  Hogan  would 
be  at  once  abandoned.  Father  Harold  was  then  Prior  of  a. house 
of  his  Order  in  Lisbon,  and  joyfully  accepted  the  offer  of  a  pastor- 
ship of  a  church  to  which  he  was  so  much  attached  as  St.  Mary's, 
but  informed  the  bishop  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  latter 
to  write  to  Rome  in  order  to  obtain  the  acceptance  of  his  resigna- 
tion as  Prior.  Meanwhile,  Bishop  Conwell,  to  his  great  chagrin^ 
learned  that  Father  Harold  and  his  uncle,  Father  William  Harold, 
had  been  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  to  his  predecessor,  and 
that  the  uncle  had  first  stirred  up  the  trustees  of  St.  Maiy's  to 
revolt  against  their  bishop,  actually  circulating  anonymous  printed 
appeals.  Bishop  Conwell  now  retracted  the  invitation  to  the 
nephew,  but  Father  William  V.  Harold,  having  resigned  his 
pnorship,  was  already  on  his  way,  and  on  the  2d  of  December, 
1821,  landed  in  Philadelphia,  to  the  great  joy  of  all  his  friends. 
The  Bishop  received  him  coldly,  but  installed  him  at  St.  Joseph's, 
and  made  him  his  secretary.  Father  Harold  did  not,  however, 
succeed  at  all  in  weaning  the  schismatics  from  Hogan. 

The  majority  of  the  Catholics  were  far  from  approving  the  con- 


220  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

duct  of  the  trustees.  Most  of  them  now  deserted  the  interdicted 
church,  and  followed  the  bishop,  who  had  withdrawn  to  St.  Jo- 
seph's. The  two  parties  became  more  and  more  exasperated; 
the  orthodox  hoped  to  defeat  the  schismatics  by  electing  a  new 
Board  of  Trustees,  but  those  in  office  managed  to  secure  a  re- 
election by  multiplying  the  number  of  seats  in  the  church,  and 
letting  them  to  their  creatures.  Now,  as  every  male  occupant  of 
a  seat  was  an  elector,  whether  Jew  or  infidel,  the  majority  was 
thus  secured  for  the  revolt.  The  election  took  place  in  the  church 
on  Easter  Tuesday,  1822,  and  led  to  sad  results  :  the  disorder  was 
frightful ;  blood  was  shed,  and  the  schismatics  triumphed,  pre- 
serving Hogan  as  pastor. 

At  the  close  of  the  same  year,  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore 
returned  from  Rome  to  the  United  States,  bringing  a  Papal  brief 
of  August  2,  1822,  which  solemnly  condemned  the  schismatics  of 
St.  Mary's.  Mr.  Hogan  promised  to  submit,  and  a  long  corre- 
spondence ensued  between  him  and  the  Rev.  William  V.  Harold, 
the  bishop's  secretary.  In  this,  bad  faith  is  everywhere  e^ddent 
in  Hogan's  language.  Nevertheless,  he  made  his  submission  on 
the  10th  of  December,  1822,  and  the  same  day  received  from 
Bishop  Con  well  his  exeat  and  the  removal  of  the  censures  in- 
curred; but  on  the  14th  of  the  same  month,  the  unhappy  priest, 
circumvented  by  the  trustees,  relapsed  into  his  error ;  he  objected 
that  the  authenticity  of  the  Pontifical  brief  had  not  been  shown 
and  continued  to  officiate  and  preach  at  St  Mary's.  The  guilty 
priest  published  the  most  violent  pamphlets  against  his  diocesan 
and  against  Bishop  England,  whom  he  sought  to  compromise ; 
but  he  soon  tired  of  functions  which  he  rebelliously  exercised, 
and  which  were  a  check  to  his  passions.  He  left  Philadelphia, 
went  south,  mariied,  re-married,  became  a  custom-house  officer  at 
Boston,  went  into  the  pay  of  the  bitterest  enemies  of  Catholicity, 
ever  disposed  to  foment  scandal;  and  successively  pubhshed 
against  the  Church  three  infemous  books,  recently  reprinted  at 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  221 

Hartford  to  stimulate  the  Know-Nothing  movement.*  At  histj 
while  the  tutor  of  Leahy,  a  pretended  Trappist  monk,  and  an  ob- 
scene reviler  of  Catholic  truth,  he  died  of  the  palsy  in  1851  or 
1852,  without  giving  any  sign  of  repentance — a  frightful  example 
of  the  pernicious  influence  of  the  trustee  system  which  Protes- 
tantism tries  to  force  on  the  Catholics.  Hogan  had  committed 
faults  at  first ;  but  he  repeatedly  showed  repentance  and  a  wish 
to  submit.  The  perfidious  counsels  of  revolted  laymen,  the  fiilse 
glory  of  being  loved  and  flattered  by  a  part  of  his  parishioners, 
retained  him  in  sin,  and  hurried  him  on  from  lapse  to-lapse ;  and 
the  unworthy  trustees  of  St.  Mary's  remain  responsible  before  God 
for  no  small  part  of  the  crimes  of  the  unhappy  priest,  whom  they 
seduced  from  the  path  of  duty. 

The  trustees,  deprived  of  their  chosen  pastor,  wished  to  re- 
place him  worthily,  and  applied  at  first  to  the  celebrated  Angelo 
Inglesi,  whose  adventures  will  figure  in  another  part  of  this  his- 
tory ;  but  the  lax  manners  of  this  gentleman  alarmed  even  the 
unscrupulous  consciences  of  the  schismatics  of  St.  Mary's,  and 
they  named  in  his  place  the  Rev.  Thaddeus  O'Meally,  of  the  dio- 
cese of  Limerick.  This  clergyman  rejected  all  proposals  made 
by  Bishop  Con  well,  and  set  out  for  Rome  with  the  accusations 
of  the  trustees  against  the  Bishop  ;  but  he  listened  to  the  voice 
of  conscience,  and  submitting  at  Rome,  on  the  25th  of  July,  1825, 
retired  to  a  convent  to  do  penance  for  his  fault.  Meanwhile, 
the  Bishop  of  Philadelphia,  having  drunk  the  cup  of  bitterness, 
weakened  by  six  years'  strife,  insult,  and  contempt,  at  last  agreed 
to  an  arrangement  in  which  he  thought  he  guaranteed  the  im- 
prescriptible rights  of  the  Church.  On  the  9th  of  October, 
1826,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  between  Bishop  Conwell  and 
the  trustees,  by  the  fourth  article  of  which  the  bishop  acknowl 


*  Popery  as  it  Was  and  Is  :  by  William  Hogan.    Hartford :  Andrus.    Nun- 
neries and  Auricular  Confession :  by  William  Hogan.    Hartford  :  Andrus, 


222  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

edges  in  the  latter  a  right  to  recommend  suitable  persons  to  be 
pastoi-s  of  St.  Mary's,  on  the  following  conditions : 

The  bishop  shall  name  the  priests  and  notify  the  trustees.  If 
the  latter  do  not  find  them  to  be  properly  qualified  to  be  pastor 
or  assistant,  they  shall  present  their  objections  to  the  bishop.  If 
the  bishop  persists,  he  shall  name  a  committee  of  three  ecclesi- 
astics, of  which  he  shall  form  one,  to  deliberate  with  a  commit- 
tee of  three  trustees ;  and  the  vote  of  this  committee  shall  be 
respected  by  the  bishop.  If  they  are  equally  divided,  two  arbi- 
trators shall  be  chosen,  and  their  vote  shall  decide. 

In  spite  of  the  satisfaction  w^hich  this  treaty  gave  their  pre- 
tensions, the  trustees  followed  it  up  by  a  protest  which  they  pre- 
sented to  the  bishop,  and  which  the  latter  accepted.  By  this, 
they  declared  that  they  meant  in  no  respect  to  abandon  their 
rights,  and  that  they  will  claim  at  Rome,  that  in  future  no  bishop 
shall  be  named  without  the  recommendation  and  approbation  of 
the  Catholic  clergy  of  the  diocese. 

By  a  letter  of  October  11,  1826,  Bishop  Conwell  proclaimed 
an  amnesty,  raised  the  interdict  on  the  church,  and  then,  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  trustees,  appointed  as  pastors  the  Rev. 
William  V.  Harold  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hayden.  But  this 
fatal  compromise  was  a  bar  to  the  real  good  of  St.  Mary's.  Be- 
fore long  the  Rev.  Father  Harold,  the  Dominican,  during  twenty 
years  esteemed  for  his  zeal  and  eloquence,  came  into  collision 
with  the  bishop  in  regard  to  it,  and  by  his  impetuous  character 
was  hurried  into  open  disrespect,  even  into  contempt,  for  Bishop 
Conwell.  Meanwhile,  the  Propaganda,  at  the  tidings  of  a  de- 
plorable compromise  that  left  revolt  triumphant,  had  seriously 
taken  the  matter  up,  and  in  a  general  assembly  of  cardinals,  on 
the  30th  of  April,  1827,  declared  the  agreement  of  October  9th 
null  and  void,  as  an  infringement  on  the  ecclesiastical  authority 
The  .bishop  submitted  to  the  desree,  in  which  it  was  solemnly 
said,  that  "  Peter  had  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  Leo  ;"  and  by  a 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  223 

pastoral  of  July  22,  182V,  he  proclaimed  the  aorogation  of  the 
asfreeraent  as  condemned.  But  the  courageous  self-denial  of  tii& 
prelate  was  not  imitated  at  St.  Mary's,  where  the  zealous  Rev. 
Thomi\s  Hayden,  who  had  reluctantly  accepted  the  post,  had 
been,  to  his  great  joy,  succeeded  by  the  Dominican,  Father 
Ryan.  To  put  an  end  to  the  scandals.  Cardinal  Capellavi,  on 
the  9th  of  March,  1828,  wrote  to  the  Rev.  William  Mathews, 
pastor  in  Washington,  acquainting  him  with  a  decision  which 
named  him  Administrator  of  the  diocese  of  Philadelphia,  and 
requesting  him  to  transmit  to  Bishop  Conwell  a  letter  which  in- 
vited him  to  Rome,  and  letters  from  the  Visitor-general  of  the 
Dominicans  to  Fathers  Harold  and  Ryan,  ordering  them  to  leave 
Philadelphia  and  proceed  to  a  convent  of  their  order  in  Ohio. 

The  unfortunate  Bishop  of  Philadelphia  immediately  set  out 
for  Rome,  and  remained  there  several  months  ;  but  suddenly, 
fearing  that  he  might  not  be  permitted  to  return  to  his  diocese, 
he  precipitately  left  the  Eternal  City,  and  returned  to  America. 
However,  the  United  States  Consul  at  Rome  wrote,  on  the  8th 
of  May,  1829,  to  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Washington,  that  his 
fear  was  groundless,  that  the  Propaganda  had  offered  no  oppo- 
sition to  Bishop  Conwell's  departure,  and  that  his  passports  had 
been  signed  without  any  hesitation.*  The  Rev.AVilliam  Mathews 
preserved  the  post  of  Apostolic  Administrator  till  1830  ;f  but  he 
would  not  consent  any  longer  to  bear  so  heavy  a  burden,  and  at 


*  Bishop  England's  Works,  v.  229. 

t  The  Eev.  William  Matbews,  born  in  Charles  county,  Maryland,  in  1770, 
made  his  classical  course  at  St.  Omers,  and  his  divinity  at  the  Sulpitian 
Seminary,  Baltimore.  Ordained  March,  1800.  lie  was  the  seventh  ccclcBi- 
astic  promoted  to  the  priesthood  in  the  United  States,  and  tho  first  native 
ordained  in  the  country.  He  died  on  the  30th  April,  1854-,  universally 
revered  as  a  patriarch,  having  filled  the  priesthood  fifty-four  years,  and 
been  pastor  of  St.  Patrick's  in  Washington  for  over  half  a  century.  His 
temporary  functions  as  Administrator  of  the  diocese  of  Philadclpliia  drew 
him  for  a  time  from  his  church,  but  he  returned  to  it  as  soon  as  be  waa 
ble  to  resign  the  diocese  into  the  hands  of  Bishop  Kcurick. 


22i  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  siigojestion  of  the  Council  of  Baltimore,  in  1829,  witli  the  con- 
seut  of  Bishop  Conwell,  the  Right  Rev.  Fi'ancis  Patrick  Kenriclj 
was  elected  by  the  Holy  See  Coadjutor  of  Philadelphia,  with 
powers  of  administrator.  The  consecration  of  this  prelate  took 
place  at  Bardstown  in  June,  1820,  and  was  celebrated  by  Bishop 
Flaget. 

The  two  Dominican  Fathers,  stationed  at  St.  Mary's,  did  not 
display  the  same  obedience  as  their  prelate.  But  of  all  con- 
duct open  to  them,  they  took  what  was  most  eccentric  and  ab- 
surd. This  was  to  complain  to  the  government,  at  Washington, 
and  ask  its 'protection  against  the  Pope,  accusing  the  Court  of 
Rome  with  violating  their  individual  liberty  as  American  citi- 
zens, by  ordering  them  to  go  to  Cincinnati,  when  their  taste  in- 
duced them  to  prefer  Philadelphia  as  a  residence.  Henry  Clay, 
then  Secretary  of  State,  was  simple  enough  to  listen  to  the  com- 
plaints of  the  Fathers,  and  by  his  letter  of  July  9,  1828,  instruct- 
ed the  American  minister  at  Paris  to  see  the  Nuncio  and  seek 
justice  for  his  proteges.  The  polite  reply  of  the  pontifical  envoy 
probably  convinced  Clay  that  he  had  plunged  into  an  element 
not  his  own,  for  he  immediately  wrote  to  the  minister  at  Paris 
to  drop  the  matter. 

On  their  side,  the  tv>^o  Fathei*s,  doubtless,  saw  that  if  they  chose 
to  throw  off  the  character  of  Religious  and  Catholics,  the  Order 
would  have  no  power  over  them,  and  they  might  in  liberty  enjoy 
all  civil  and  political  rights  as  American  citizens  ;  but  that,  as 
long  as  they  remained  Dominicans,  they  were  bound  in  con- 
science to  submit  to  their  superiors  and  the  Holy  See.  In  1829, 
they  returned  separately  to  Ireland,  where  Father  John  Ryan 
died  some  years  since,  ha^nng  repaired  passing  errors  of  judg- 
ment by  a  long  and  exemplary  career.  Father  Harold,  after  be- 
ing Provincial  of  his  Order  in  Ireland,  and  long  revered  as  a 
holy  9nd  zealous  priest,  has  expired  while  this  work  is  passing 
through  the  press. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATJ.'S.  225 

The  gveiit  prudence,  and  the  firm  yet  paternal  determination 
of  Bishop  Kenrick,  restored  peace  to  St.  Mary's.  Difficidttea 
again  arose  in  1831 ;  and  this  is  no  wonder,  for  the  very  vice  0/ 
American  legishition  is  by  the  trustee  system  forced  into  the 
affairs  of  the  Church.  They  say  in  France,  that  the  republican 
form  of  government  would  be  a  very  good  one  for  angels.  We 
mtiy  say  the  same  of  trusteeism  :  as  it  exists  in  the  United 
States,  it  would  be  the  best  temporal  administration  for  saints. 
Unfortunately,  however,  all  the  laity  are  not  saints,  as  we  see  in 
the  many  schisms  the  system  has  caused,  and  especially  that  of 
St.  Mary's,  the  most  celebrated  and  scandalous  of  all.  The 
Kight  Rev.  Henry  Conwell  lived  in  retirement  at  Philadelphia 
till  April  21,  1842,  when  he  expired,  at  the  age  of  ninety-four. 
Overwhelmed  with  infirmities  and  strack  with  blindness,  the 
prelate  supported  with  courageous  resignation  the  fearful  burden 
of  a  long  old  age,  in  the  midst  of  the  difiSculties  which  have  as- 
sailed him.  Bishop  England  says  :  "  The  bishop  has  been  the 
greatest  sufferer  in  his  feelings,  in  his  income,  and  under  God, 
he  may  thank  his  virtue  alone  that  he  has  not  been  in  his  ch:u"- 
acter.  That,  however,  has  been  but  burnished  in  the  collision  : 
were  he  a  hypocrite,  the  thin  washing  would  have  long  since 
been  rubbed  away,  for,  indeed,  the  applications  have  been  roughly 
used.  What  do  the  Catholics  of  Philadelphia  desire,  better  than 
a  bishop  whose  character  will  outlive  the  test  of  four  years'  as- 
sailing such  as  he  has  met  with,  and  whose  firmness  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  principle  has  been  tested  as  his  has  been  ?  These 
are  qualities  not  to  be  every  day  or  easily  found."* 

By  the  death  of  Bishop  Conwell  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Kenrick  be- 
came titular  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  which  he  had  been  foi 
upwards  of  twelve  years  the  administrator.     This  prelate,  now  al 

*  Bishop  England's  "Works,  v.  198.  Our  account  of  the  schism  is  basad 
chiefly-  on  the  vohiminous  documents  published  in  this  volume,  and  extend- 
Irg  frcm  page  109  t<  232. 

10* 


226  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

the  head  of  the  American  hierarchy,  was  born  in  Dublin,  on  the 
3d  of  December,  1797,  and  studied  divinity  at  Rome.  Having 
devoted  himself  to  the  American  missions  in  1821,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Keurick  was  first  employed  in  Kentucky,  and  won  the  esteem 
and  regard  of  Bishop  Flaget.  That  patriarch  of  the  West  often 
speaks  in  his  correspondence  of  the  young  Irish  priest,  describing 
him  "as  remarkable  for  his  piety,  extensive  acquirements,  the 
quickness  of  his  mind,  and  the  natural  eloquence  with  which  he 
expressed  himself."  The  jubilee  which  was  celebrated  in  Ken- 
tucky in  1826  and  1827,  gave  a  wide  field  to  the  zeal  and  talents 
of  Mr.  Kenrick.  He  attended  Bishop  Flaget  in  the  pastoral  visi- 
tation of  his  vast  diocese,  everywhere  preaching  with  success  in 
edification  and  conversions;  and  at  Bardstown  he  gave  public 
conferences  on  religion,  answering  the  objections  of  Protestant 
ministers,  and  often  effectually  silencing  them.  Bishop  Flaget's 
attachment  to  his  young  friend  was  so  great  that  the  nevrs  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Kenrick's  nomination  as  Coadjutor  of  Philadelphia 
caused  the  venerable  bishop  deep  grief,  and  the  separation  was 
extremely  painful  to  both.  Bishop  Flaget  received  the  bulls  from 
Rome  on  the  1st  of  May,  1830,  but  it  was  not  till  twenty-four 
hours  after  that  he  had  the  courage  to  hand  them  to  Mr.  Kenrick, 
so  difficult  had  it  been  for  him  to  resign  himself  to  the  loss  of 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  ornaments  of  the  clei'gy  of  his  diocese. 
This  tender  aftection  of  Bishop  Flaget  is  too  honorable  to  the 
learned  Bishop  of  Philailelphia  for  us  to  omit  it  here. 

Of  this  period  of  Bishop  Kenrick's  life  we  find  an  incident 
worth  noting,  in  a  work  by  an  Italian  missionary. 

The  consecration  of  Bishop  Kenrick  was  performed  in  the 
cathedral  of  St.  Joseph,  Bardstown,  on  Tiinity  Sunday,  the  6th 
of  June,  by  the  venerable  Bishop  of  that  See,  assisted  by  the 
aged  Bishop  of  Philadelphia,  and  by  his  own  coadjutor,  the 
Bishop  of  Mauricastro  in  partibus.  The  Bishop  of  Cincinnati 
was  in  the  sanctuary  with  a  large  body  of  clergy.     Bishop  Eng- 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  227 

land  preached  on  the  occasion  with  his  wonted  eloquence  ;  and 
afterwards,  during  two  weeks,  visited  several  parts  of  the  diocc^a, 
delighting*  all  by  his  masterlj^  vindications  of  the  Catholic  taith. 
His  last  discourse  in  Kentucky  was  pronounced  at  Louisville,  at 
the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  a  new  church.  The  newly-o.'- 
daiued  prelate  proceeded,  with  the  Bishop  of  Philadelphia,  to 
that  city,  and  entered  on  the  administration  of  the  diocese,  which 
had  been  intrusted  to  him  by  the  Holy  See.* 

In  the  Annals  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith  we  find  a  letter 
of  Bishop  Kenrick,  dated  January  4,  1834,  and  it  contains  inter- 
esting details  as  to  the  state  of  religion  in  the  diocese.  The  pre- 
late then  estimated  the  Catholic  population  of  his  diocese  at  one 
hundred  thousand,  chiefly  Germans  and  Irish.  "  But  the  French," 
he  added,  "  are  also  numerous,  especially  at  Philadelphia."  The 
presence  of  three  French  priests — Messrs.  Fouthouze  and  Gnth, 
and  Father  Dubuisson,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus — gave  them  every 
opportunity  of  preaching  their  religion.  One  of  these  often 
preached  in  their  language  at  the  German  church  of  St.  Mary, 
and  sometimes  also  at  St.  Mary's,  the  cathedral.  In  the  interior 
of  Pennsylvania  French  families  are  found  in  several  places.f  A 
notice  on  St.  Mary's  Church  also  says,  that  at  the  beginning  of 
the  century,  "  among  the  ftimilies  who  pretty  regularly  attended 
the  church,  were  several  French  families  of  rank  and  even  dis- 
tinction ;  and  although  death  and  the  instability  of  human  affairs 
have  diminished  their  numbers,  and  removed  most  of  them,  the 
descendants  of  some  of  these  families  are  still  parishioners  of  St. 
Mary's." 

In  1834,  Philadelphia  contained  twenty- five  thousand  Catho- 
lics and  five  churches,  each  attended  by  two  priests.  At  Easter, 
1833,  the  Jesuits  had  resumed  possession  of  St.  Joseph's  Church, 

*  Mernorie  iatoriche  ed  edificante  di  un  missionario  iipostolico  dell  onlina 
'Jei  preilicatori.     Miluiio,  1844. 
T  Annules  de  la  Propagution  de  la  Foi,  viii.  212-220. 


228  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  old  resideiice  of  the  first  missionaries  of  the  Society  of  Pemi« 
sylvania,  and  the  previous  year  the  Rev.  John  Hughes  had  built 
St.  John's  Church,  aided  by  the  generosity  of  the  public,  and 
esj)ecially  that  of  a  Frent"-h  gentleman,  Mr.  M.  A.  Frenaye,  who 
pledged  his  property  to  encourage  the  contractors  and  prevent 
the  work  from  stopping.*  In  the  interior  of  the  diocese  the 
faithful  were  less  provided  with  rehgious  aid,  in  consequence  of 
the  small  number  of  missionaries,  and  the  only  parishes  possess- 
ing fixed  pastors  who  celebrated  Mass  every  Sunday,  were  Pitts- 
burg, Conewago,  Loretto,  Manayunk,  and  Wilmington.  Among 
the  missions,  some  enjoyed  the  presence  of  the  pastors  three  times 
a  month,  such  as  Haycock,  Pottsville,  Lancaster,  Bedford,  and 
Chambersbm'g ;  others,  only  once  a  fortnight ;  others  again, 
but  once  a  month ;  and  some  more  rarely  still,  as  the  wants  of 
oiher  missions  allowed  the  priests  time  to  visit  them.  Brow^is- 
ville,  Carbondale,  Silver  Lake,  New  Castle,  Butler,  were  in  this 
situation,  although  churches  were  built  in  all.  "  The  missiona- 
ries," wrote  Bishop  Kenrick,  "  are  charged  with  the  care  of  two, 
three,  or  four  missions,  or  even  more,  often  at  considerable  dis- 
tances from  each  other.  Some  of  these  missions  need  the  gift  of 
tongues  and  a  health  of  iron.  Nine  nations  have  supplied  our 
missionaries,  so  that  there  is  more  diversity  among  them  than 
among  the  faithful  even,  as  regards  language.  Four  of  the  priests 
are  French,  three  Germans,  two  Belgians,  and  tw^enty-one  L-ish. 
Russia,  Livonia,  Portugal,  and  England  have  each  given  one  mis- 
sionary to  Pennsylvania.     As  to  Americans  born,  we  count  only 


*  Mr.  M.  A.  Frenaye,  born  in  St.  Domingo,  and  educated  in  France,  re- 
turned to  liis  native  isle  with  General  Le  Clcrc's  expedition,  and  he  endeav- 
ored to  remain  after  the  departure  of  that  army.  Seized  by  the  negroes,  h^ 
escaped  death  almost  miraculously,  and  took  refuge  first  in  Jamaica  and 
next  in  the  United  States.  Having  realized  an  honorable  fortune  in  trad<», 
he  bestowed  it  on  the  diocese  of  Philadelphia,  and  for  the  last  twenty  years 
devoted  himself  to  works  of  charity  and  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  May  hw 
noble  old  age  be  long  prolonged  for  the  good  of  religion. 


IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.  220 

tluee  now  employed  in  tlie  diocese,  and  two  at  Emmetsbi  rg. 
The  number  would  increase  if  we  had  a  suitable  seminary  to  re- 
ceive the  young  men  who  desire  to  devote  themselves  to  the  holy 
ministry,  and  this  is  the  object  of  my  most  sincere  desire. 

"  At  Conewago,  in  the  part  of  Pennsylvania  which  borders  on 
Maryland,  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  have  one  establish- 
ment amid  a  considerable  Catholic  population.  The  zeal  of  these 
Fathers  extends  to  the  neighboring  population,  and  they  have 
three  churches  besides  that  where  they  reside,  and  which  was 
built  in  1787.  Nearly  twelve  hundred  were  confirmed  in  these 
three  churches  at  my  last  visit. 

"  The  church  of  Gosheuhoppen  also  belongs  to  the  Jesuits,  and 
must  have  been  built  in  1165.  The  Cathohc  population  of  the 
neighborhood  is  very  numerous,  and  almost  all  of  German  origin ; 
hence  the  present  generation,  although  American  born,  does  not 
generally  speak  English.  The  spirit  of  faith  and  piety  has  been 
preserved  and  maintained  till  now  by  the  zeal  of  Father  Corvin 
(Krokowski),  a  Livonian  Jesuit."^'  Such  was  the  state  of  religion 
in  the  diocese  of  Philadelphia  in  1834,  and  we  are  now  to  see 
what  progress  the  Church,  in  spite  of  all  its  trials,  has  made  in 
the  last  twenty  years. 


*  Father  Bonifoce  Corvin  was  present  at  the  synod  in  Philadelphia  in 
1S32,  and  is  described  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hayden  as  being  then  a  venerable 
old  man,  and  second  on  the  list  of  priests  that  signed— the  Rev.  Patrick 
Kenny  being  the  first  "  juxta  ordinationis  suae  teuipus."  He  died  the  11th 
r-f  October,  1837,  'ged  sixty  years. 


230  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

DIOCESE    OF    PHILADELPHIA (1833-1844). 

Commencement  and  progress  of  the  anti-Catholic  agitation — Various  manoeuvres  of  th« 
fanatics— The  Native  party— The  Philadelphia  riots. 

Bishop  Kenrick's  episcopate  was  not  distinguished  only  by 
tlie  admirable  development  given  in  his  diocese  in  Cathohc  insti- 
tutions, by  the  construction  of  numerous  churches,  and  the  re- 
markable increase  of  the  clergy ;  the  celebrated  prelate  had 
also  to  exercise  his  zeal  in  rebuilding  the  shrines  which  a  misled 
people  laid  in  ashes,  and  in  preaching  patience  and  rehgion  to  his 
flock,  while  he  endeavored  to  protect  them  against  the  fanaticism 
of  the  vile  multitude. 

The  anti-Catholic  agitation  breaks  out  periodically  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  symptoms  of  the  malady  are  the  same 
from  the  colonial  times  down  to  our  own.  It  is  a  sort  of  inter- 
mittent fever,  which  has  its  deep-seated  principle  in  the  hereditary 
hatred  transmitted  for  three  centuries  to  Protestant  generations, 
and  inoculated  by  the  incendiaiy  Avritings  of  the  first  deformers. 
At  certain  intervals,  political  quackery  succeeds  in  temporarily 
breaking  the  fever,  and  the  good  disposition  given  by  Providence 
to  nations  helps  these  intervals  of  passing  calm.  Man  cannot  be 
kept  in  a  state  of  constant  fury  against  his  fellow-man,  especially 
when  the  latter  is  inoffensive  and  innocent,  and  when  the  passions 
are  no  longer  excited  by  the  leaders  of  the  movement,  natural  be- 
nevolence resumes  its  course.  There  are  moments  when  apostles 
of  error  stop  from  weariness,  and  others,  when  political  reasons 
make  it  prudent  to  wheedle  Catholics  by  presenting  toleration  as 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  231 

a  real  reality  and  not  a  sliam.  And  lastly,  God  wishes  to  ^^ive 
Lis  Church  some  days  of  repose  amid  the  trials  of  the  crucible,  in 
which  the  faithful  are  purified. 

The  ministers  of  the  popular  sects  of  Protestantism — the  Pres- 
byterians, Methodists,  and  Baptists — cannot  bear  to  see  their 
flocks  ravaged  by  infidelity.  Interest  and  self-love  induce  them 
to  make  every  efibrt  to  retain  around  their  pulpits  the  thousands 
in  whom  unbridled  examination  and  unguided  judgment  has  de- 
stroyed faith,  and  as  the  exposition  of  doctrine  has  no  longer  any 
attraction  for  their  heresy,  they  hope  to  keep  them  Protestants 
by  filling  them  with  a  hatred  of  Catholicity  The  false  pastors 
then  put  their  imagination  on  the  rack  to  vary  their  calumnis^s 
against  our  dogmas,  and  season  them  to  the  public  taste.  The 
public  mind  must  be  always  kept  in  suspense  by  dangling  in  its 
eyes  the  bugbear  of  Romanism,  ready  to  glut  itself  with  the  blood 
of  honest  Protestants.  When  a  fact  cannot  be  travestied  or  suc- 
cessfully misrepresented,  they  invent  without  the  slightest  scruple 
or  fear  of  public  exposure,  a  fact  which  in  itself  is  a  strange  com- 
mentary on  a  public  community.  This  deplorable  system  can 
be  compared  only  to  the  manoeuvres  of  a  Merry  Andrew,  an- 
nouncing that  he  will  exhibit  in  his  tent  a  series  of  prodigies  out- 
doing each  other  in  the  marvellous;  or  else  to  the  course  of 
famous  novelists,  stimulating  the  curiosity  of  their  i-eaders  by 
compHcations  of  intrigue  and  crime,  on  which  they  then  weave 
the  web  of  mystery. 

The  period  from  1834  to  1844  beheld  this  anti-Catholic  agita- 
tion extend  through  several  dioceses,  in  a  most  frightful  manner, 
and  at  last  result  in  Philadelphia  in  civil  war.  The  leaders  began 
by  reviving  the  stale  calumnies  as  to  the  intolerance  of  Catholics, 
and  the  game  opened  in  a  most  curious  way.  The  English  ver- 
sion of  the  New  Testament  used  by  Catholics  was  made  originally 
at  the  English  college  of  Rheims,  and  first  printed  in  1582 
Although  the  text  has   undergone  various  recensions,  and  the 


232  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

notes  of  the  Rhemisli  theologians  have  long  been  omitted  and  re 
placed  by  those  of  Bishop  Challoner,  the  Testament  still  bears  the 
name  of  the  Rhemish  Testament,  as  the  whole  sacred  volume 
does  the  title  of  Douay  Bible.  In  .this,  the  mere  result  of  habit, 
the  leaders  of  the  anti-Catholic  movement  thought  that  they  had 
discovered  a  gri-eat  secret.  Imagining,  in  their  delusion,  that  the 
old  Rhemish  Testament  was  still  circulating  among  the  Catholic 
clergy,  but  carefully  withheld  from  the  laity,  they  resolved  to  re- 
print it,  and  early  in  1834  issued  their  edition  of  the  Rhemish 
Testament,  a  reprint  of  that  of  1582,  with  the  original  notes, 
described  in  the  "  introductory  address"  as  "  replete  with  impiety, 
irreligion,  and  the  most  fiery  persecution."  This  address  bears 
the  endorsement  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  Protestant  clergy- 
men, many  of  them  from  Princeton,  New  Brunswick,  and  Yale ; 
and  its  introductory  matter  will  ever  remain  a  monument  of  the 
ignorance  which  then  prevailed  as  to  bibliography  and  ecclesias- 
tical history.  To  give  all  their  blunders  would  be  an  endless 
task ;  but  to  such  as  have  never  seen  the  curious  volume,  it  may 
be  sufficient  to  state  that  in  their  wisdom  they  make  the  college 
of  Rheims  a  Jesuit  house,  when  it  was  the  very  centre  of  the 
Euglish  secular  clergy,  actually  in  warm  controversy  with  the 
Jesuits.  They  say  that  the  Roman  priests  have  denied  the  value 
of  the  Douay  and  Rheims  translation.  They  admit  their  igno- 
rance of  even  the  names  of  the  translators ;  they  condemn  them 
(believe  it,  ye  men  of  classic  learning)  for  not  translating  tunic 
ly  coat^  and  sandals  by  shoes!  They  charge  that  expurgated 
editions  only  have  been  allowed  to  appear  since  1816,  ignorant 
of  the  fact  that  two  Catholic  editions,  at  least,  were  printed  in 
this  country  before  that  date.  Alas  for  Piinceton,  New  Bruns- 
wick, and  Yale !  This  effort  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  minis- 
ters was  a  complete  fiiilure.  They  had  attempted  too  much,  and 
now  turned  with  greater  zest  to  a  subject  more  pleasant  and  less 
knotty — the  old  women's  tales  of  convents,  the  pseudo  hori'ors 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  233 

committed  there,  the  ideal  tortures  to  which  the  nuns  are  sub- 
jected when  they  endeavor  to  escape.  For  several  months  minis- 
ters yelled  from  their  pulpits  these  pretended  descriptions  of  the 
licentiousness  of  Catholic  institutions.  New  England  was  the 
propitious  soil,  and  on  the  11th  of  August,  1834,  the  popular 
emotion  reached  a  proper  height.  The  mob  of  Boston  and  its 
suburbs  rushed  upon  the  Ursuline  Convent  of  Mount  Benedict, 
and  destroyed  it  from  top  to  bottom  by  fire  and  pillage,  ransack- 
ing even  the  graves  of  the  dead.  The  court  of  pretended  justice 
might  acquit  the  rioters ;  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  might 
refuse  to  allow  any  indemnity  for  the  destruction  it  had  permit- 
ted ;  but  a  committee  of  inquiry,  formed  by  Protestant  citizens, 
undertook  a  minute  investigation  to  appreciate  the  truth  of  the 
accusations  against  the  Ursulines.  Their  report  entirely  excul- 
pated the  persecuted  nuns,  and  showed  the  makers  of  discord  that 
they  must  seek  new  arms  against  Catholicity. 

They  sought  then  to  justify  their  course,  and  an  anonymous 
committee  published  "  Six  Months  in  a  Convent,"  a  narrative  of 
pretended  enormities;  the  Lady  Superior  answered  it  trium- 
phantly, and  the  wits  of  Boston  in  travesties  held  up  the  reve- 
rend forgers  to  the  public  ridicule.  They  attempted  indeed  in 
a  supplement  to  regain  the  lost  ground,  but  it  was  too  late.'^ 

Soon  after  these  sad  scenes,  the  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  who  had 
urged  the  people  of  Boston  to  incendiarism  and  pillage,f  visited 


*  See  "Six  Months  in  a  Convent,"  by  Rebecca  Theresa  Eeed.  Boston, 
1835.  It  was  published  to  operate  on  the  pubhc  mind  at  the  time  of  the  trijil 
of  the  rioters,  in  order  to  prejudice  the  public  against  the  nuns,  and  35,000 
copies  were  sold  in  a  few  days. 

Tlie  Superior's  answer  is  entitled  "  An  Answer  to  Six  Months  in  a  Con- 
sent," by  tlio  Lady  Superior.     Boston,  1855. 

See  also  '■  Chronicles  of  Mount  Benedict,"  and  "  Six  Months  in  a  House 
of  Correction."  Boston,  Mussey,  1835.  An  admirable  satire  ;  and  finally 
"Supplement  to  Six  Months  in  a  Convent,"  by  tlie  Committee  of  Publics 
tion.     Boston,  Russell,  1835. 

t  In  proof  of  this  see  "Trotestant  Jesuitism." 


234:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  "Western  States,  and  there  published  a  work  in  which  he 
represents  the  CathoHcs  as  leagued  with  the  despots  of  Europe  tc 
destroy  the  liberties  of  America.  Morse,  whose  name  will  be 
ever  associated  with  the  telegraph,  espoused  the  same  idea  with 
all  the  fury  of  a  partisan,  and  in  his  "  Brutus,  or  a  Foreign  Con- 
spiracy against  the  Liberties  of  the  United  States,"  sought  tc 
excite  a  civil  war.*  But  even  this  failed  to  excite  the  people. 
Something  new  was  needed  to  increase  the  rehgious  irritation. 
Then  three  ministers,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Bourne,  W.  C.  Brownlee, 
and  J.  T.  Slocum,  took  under  their  protection  a  prostitute  of 
Montreal,  whom  they  transformed  into  a  nun  escaped  from  the 
Hotel  Dieu,  or  Hospital  in  that  city.  The  distinguished  publish- 
ing house  of  Harper  agreed  to  issue  their  inventions,  and  an 
infamous  book  entitled  "  Aw^fal  Disclosures  of  Maria  Monk " 
appeared,  ostensibly  published  by  Howe  &  Bates,  and  contain- 
ing the  pretended  revelations  of  Maria.  In  this  work,  written 
it  would  seem  by  a  Mr.  Timothy  Dwight,  the  nuns  of  the  Hotel 
Dieu  are  accused  of  the  most  revolting  crimes,  such  as  stifling 
children  between  mattresses,  and  putting  to  death  novices  who 
refused  to  partake  in  their  debauchery  with  the  priests  of  the 
seminary  of  Montreal.  In  vain  the  whole  press  of  Canada, 
Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic,  unmasked  the  imposture  in  all  its 
details.  The  whole  life  of  the  heroine  was  traced  from  her 
cradle  to  her  illicit  connection  with  a  Rev.  Mr.  Hoyte,  and  her 
departure  with  him  from  Montreal.  It  was  proved  that  she 
never  was  in  the  Hotel  Dieu,  either  as  a  nun  or  even  as  a  ser- 
vant ;  on  the  contrary,  that  she  had  been  sent  away  from  a 
Magdalene  asylum,  and  that  the  descriptions  in  the  book,  totally 
at  variance  with  the  Hotel  Dieu,  correspond  with  the  Magda- 
lene Asylum ;  that  the  names  of  the  pretended  nuns  are  really 

*  Plea  for  the  West,  by  Lyman  Beecher.  Cincinnati.  Brutus,  or  a 
Foroirrn  Conspiracy  against  the  Liberties  of  the  United  States  :  by  C.  F.  K 
Morse.     New  York,  Leavitt,  1835. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  235 

those  of  her  fellow-penitents  within  the  asylum.*  In  spite  of 
all  this  refutation,  the  ministers  and  Protestant  Association  of 
New  York  extended  protection  and  influence  to  the  vile  instru- 
ment of  their  religious  hate.  One  alone  protested  :  Colonel 
Wm.  L.  Stone,  Editor  of  the  Commercial  Advertiser.,  at  New 
York,  went  with  some  other  gentlemen  to  Montreal  after 
inviting  Maria  Monk  and  her  friends  to  join  them.  There,  book 
in  hand,  they  examined  the  Hotel  Dieu,  and  were  so  completely 
satisfied  that  Maria  Monk  had  never  been  there,  that  on  his 
return  Col.  Stone  published  a  withering  exposure  of  the  gigantic 
fraud.f  Still  the  concoctors  of  the  work  held  out,  confident  in 
the  unreasoning  bigotry  of  the  masses  ;  two  editions  of  the  vile 
volume,  each  of  40,000  copies,  were  rapidly  sold,  and  a  second 
appeared  under  the  name  of  Maria  Monk,  more  infamous  and 
mendacious  still  than  the  first  fable  of  the  courtesan.]; 

So  profitable  was  the  mart  of  Protestant  credulity  that  new 
impostors  came  to  compete  with  Brownlee,  Slocum,  Monk,  and 
Harper,  now  engaged  in  a  fierce  lawsuit,  in  which  all  swore  to 
the  authorship  and  ownership  of  the  book.  Frances  Partridge 
appeared  also  as  a  runaway  nun  from  the  convent,  and  the  ren- 
egade priest,  Samuel  B.  Smith,  published,  under  the  name  of 
Rosairwnd  Clifi'ord,  an  obscene  romance  pretending  to  unveil  the 
turpitudes  of  the  confessional.§ 

*  See  "  Awful  Exposure  of  the  atrocious  plot  formed  by  certain  Individ - 
mils  against  the  Clergy  and  Nuns  of  Lower  Canada,  through  the  intervention 
of  Maria  Monk."  New  York.  Printed  for  Jones  &,  Co.,  of  Montreal,  1836, 
p.  71. 

+  Sec  Maria  Monk  and  the  Nunnery  of  the  Hotel  Dieu,  being  an  account 
of  a  visit  to  the  convents  of  Montreal,  and  refutation  of  the  "  awful  disdo- 
Bures,"  by  Wm.  L.  Stone.     New  York,  Howe  &  Bates,  183(5,  48,  4j. 

X  Farther  Disclosures  by  Maria  Monk,  concerning  the  Hotel  Dieu  Nun- 
nery of  Montreal.  Also  her  visits  to  the  Nun's  Island,  and  disclosures  con- 
cerning the  secret  retreat.     New  York,  published  for  Maria  Monk,  1837. 

§  For  another  attempt  of  Maria  Monk,  and  its  exposure,  see  "An  cxpo- 
Biire  of'Maria  Monk's  pretended  abduction  and  conveyance  to  the  Cathoho 
Asylum,  Philadelphia,  by  six  priests,  on  the  night  of  August  15th,  1837." 


23G  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

"It  would  seem,  indeed,"  says  Colonel  Stone,  "as  thongh 
these  people  had  yielded  themselves  to  this  species  of  mono- 
mania, and  from  mere  habit  they  yield  a  willing  credence  to 
any  story  against  the  Roman  Catholics,  no  matter  what  or  by 
whom  related,  so  that  it  be  sufficiently  horrible  and  revolting  in 
its  detail  of  licentiousness  and  blood.  It  is  melancholy  to  con- 
template such  credulity,  and  such  deplorable  fanaticism,  and  yet 
the  instances  are  multiplied  wherein  such  delusion  has  been 
wrought  by  the  passionate  appeals  of  the  anti-Papist  presses. 
Nor  is  it  to  be  denied  that  such  publications  as  are  now  deluging 
the  country,  fomenting  the  popular  prejudices  and  appealing  to 
the  basest  passions  of  our  nature — teeming  as  they  do  with  loath- 
some and  disgusting  details  of  criminal  voluptuousness,  under 
the  garb  of  religion,  are  ominous  of  fearful  results,  especially 
from  their  influence  upon  the  rising  generation  of  both  sexes." 

"  The  people  of  this  land,"  says  the  author  of  Protestant 
Jesuitism,  "and  it  is  a  common  attribute  of  human  nature — 
love  excitement,  and  unfortunately  there  are  those  who  know 
how  to  produce  it,  and  profit  by  it.  ^Tien  the  bulletin,  an- 
nouncing the  papal  invasion  of  our  shores  and  territory,  has 
spent  its  influence,  because  the  enemy  cannot  be  seen,  in  comes 
Miss  Reed's  '  Six  Months  in  a  Convent,'  and  the  TJrsuline  School 
is  in  flames !     When  this  is  well  digested — which,  it  must  be 

By  W.  H.  Sleigh,  Philadelphia,  1837.  To  form  some  idea  of  the  literature 
of  that  day,  we  give  the  titles  of  some  other  fanatical  publications  of  the 
period.  Not  a  month  passed  without  beholding  a  new  pamphlet,  sm-passing 
its  predecessors  in  its  vile  calumnies  of  Catholic  institutions  : 

"Louise,  or  the  Canadian  Nun." 

"Life  of  Scipio  Kioci,  the  Jansenist  Bishop  of  Pistoia,"  another  scanda- 
lous picture  of  convent  life. 

"  Synopsis  of  Popery,"  by  S.  B.  Smith.  New  York,  1836.  The  author 
Btill  lives.     God  grant  him  grace  to  repent. 

"  Open  Convents,"  by  Timothy  Dwight,  the  author  of  the  volume  bearing 
the  name  of  Maria  Monk. 

"Popery  as  it  was  and  is,"  by  William  Hogan. 

"Papal  Pome  as  it  is,"  by  Eev.  L.  Giustiniani. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  237 

confessed  had  in  it  some  substantial  nutriment,  though  a  good 
deal  of  *  ardent  spirit/  producing  no  small  measure;  of  intoxica- 
tion— then  comes  Maria  Monk,  one  of  the  most  arrant  fictions 
that  was  ever  palmed  upon  the  community.  But  the  appetite  is 
good,  and  it  is  all  swallowed.  Close  upon  the  heels  of  this 
comes  'Rosamond's  Narrative,'  supported  and  commended  by 
the  veritable  certificates  of  reverend  divines — illustrated  with 
plates — all  for  the  instruction  and  benefit  of  our  children  and 
youth  of  both  sexes — to  be  found  all  over  the  land  on  the  same 
table  with  the  Bible  !"* 

Under  the  sway  of  the  agitation  fomented  by  these  incendiary 
or  immoral  publications,  Protestant  Associations  were  formed  in 
all  the  cities  of  the  Union,  with  the  avowed  object  of  protecting 
the  liberties  of  the  country  against  the  plots  of  the  Pope  !  That 
in  Philadelphia  contained  eighteen  ministers;  and  the  first 
pledge  into  which  the  conspirators  entered,  was  never  to  employ 
Catholic  workmen  or  servants,  and  never  to  contribute  to  the 
support  of  Catholic  orphans.  It  was  a  conspiracy  against 
poverty  and  misfortune.  The  pulpits  of  error  renewed  their 
fanatical  appeals,  and  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Goodman,  a  worthy  Epis- 
copal clergyman,  says,  in  his  just  indignation :  "  Congregations 
instead  of  being  taught  from  the  pulpit  to  adorn  their  profession 
by  all  the  lovely  graces  of  the  Gospel,  by  kind  and  afl"ectionate 
bearing  in  the  world,  by  earnest  and  ever  active  endeavors  to 
secure  for  themselves  and  others,  the  blessings  of  peace,  were 
annoyed  with  inflammatory  harangues  upon  the  '  great  apostasy,' 
and  upon  abominations  of  the  Roman  Church."  "  The  Pope, 
and  the  Pope,  and  the  Pope !"  was  the  beginning  and  the  end 
of  the  sermons  in  certain  churches,  and  the  women  and  children ' 
were  frightened  with  the  details  of  the  wicked  doings  of  "  him 
of  Rome ;"  whilst  they  of  the  stature  of  men,  wero  held  breath- 

*  "  Protestant  Jesuitism,"  by  a  Protestant.     New  York,  Harpers,  1838,  p.  34. 


238  THE  CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

less  captives  when  they  were  addressed  by  these  orators  upon 
the  subject  of  Papal  usurpations,  and  the  ecclesiastical  domina- 
tion contemplated  by  "  Anti-Christ "  in  America.  They  were 
told  that  there  was  not  a  Catholic  church,  that  had  not  under- 
neath it  prepared  cells  for  Protestant  heretics ;  that  every  priest 
was  a  Jesuit  in  disguise ;  that  the  Pope  was  coming  to  this 
country  with  an  army  of  cassocked  followers,  and  that  each 
would  be  fully  armed  with  weapons,  concealed  under  the  folds 
of  his  "  Babylonish  robes."  Never  did  Titus  Gates  detail  more 
horrid  conspiracies,  in  virtue  of  his  station  as  informer-general, 
than  did  these  clerical  sentinels ;  and  all  that  was  wanting  was 
the  power,  and  such  a  judge  as  Jeffries,  to  make  every  Catholic 
expiate  his  "  abominable  heresy  "  upon  the  scaffold  or  amid  the 
flames.* 

But  the  ordinary  preaching  of  the  ministers  always  bearing  on 
the  same  subject,  wearied  their  hearers,  without  heating  them  to 
the  degree  of  hatred  to  which  they  wished  to  bring  them.  They 
then  sought  to  discover  some  apostate  from  Catholicity  whose 
revelations  would  be  racy  enough  to  stimulate  curiosity.  Then, 
if  a  wretched  priest  had  been  weak  enough  to  yield  to  his  pas- 
sions, be  silenced  by  his  bishop,  the  unfortunate  man  was  sur- 
rounded at  once  by  all  the  allurements  of  heresy.  A  pension 
was  offered,  a  wife  was  proposed,  ease  and  rank  assured  him, 
provided  he  came  forward  as  a  Protestant — provided  especially 
that  he  consented  to  go  from  town  to  town  like  some  strange 
"  beast,"  and  lecture  on  the  mysteries  of  the  Confessional.  But 
as  the  United  States  do  not  produce  apostates  enough  for  the 
supply,  as  these  vile  instruments  are  soon  useless  in  the  hands  of 

*  The  Truth  Unveiled.  Baltimore,  1844,  p.  18.  The  author,  the  Rev.  M. 
Goodman,  published  about  the  same  time  the  "  Olive  Branch,"  a  warm  ap- 
peal to  concord,  to  which  the  fanatics  turned  a  deaf  ear.  These  remarkable 
tracts  were  cited  by  Bishop  Spalding  in  an  able  article  in  the  U.  S.  Catholic 
Magazine,  1845,  p.  1-16,  and  published  in  his  Miscellany.  An  article  which 
has  served  greatly  in  the  composition  of  this  chapter. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  2S9 

their  emploj^ers,  they  send  to  Europe  to  get  an  outcast  of  the 
canctuaiy ;  false  certificates  of  ordination  are  got  up  for  men  who 
never  approached  an  altar,  but  who  wish  to  act  the  part  of  vic- 
tims of  the  Inquisition  ;  these  are  taught  to  relate  a  thousand 
turpitudes  as  to  their  pretended  career,  like  the  bird  in  Scripture 
that  defiled  the  nest  in  which  it  had  been  hatched.  A  book 
appears  in  his  name  (it  is  always  the  same,  under  a  diflferent 
name)  against  the  Inquisition,  Confession,  Clerical  Celibacy,  the 
Papacy,  the  cultus  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  Saints ;  then 
they  drop  into  oblivion  these  heroes  of  a  day,  who  are  useless 
when  they  can  no  longer  give  scandal.  They  are  poisonous 
fruits,  out  of  which  the  venom  has  been  pressed,  and  the  insipid 
pulp  of  w^hich  is  fit  only  to  be  cast  into  the  fire  of  earth  and 
heaven. 

Thus  successively  appeared  in  the  United  States  the  Hogans, 
Smiths,  Giustmiani,  Teodors,  and  Leahys.  The  last  took  the 
part  of  an  ex-Trappist ;  and  as  he  became  more  celebrated  than 
the  others,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  give  some  outline  of  his  life. 
Leahy  never  was  a  monk  of  La  Trappe,  nor  of  any  other  order. 
He  began  life  as  a  fiirmer's  boy  at  Templemore,  in  Ireland ;  he 
then  entered  as  a  servant  into  the  employment  of  the  Trappists 
of  Mount  Melleray;  but  remained  only  a  few  months  there. 
Returning  to  Templemore,  he  succeeded  in  getting  a  sum  of 
money  from  the  parish  priest,  by  pretending  that  he  had  been 
sent  by  the  Trappists,  who  were  totally  out  of  food.  With  this 
money  he  made  his  way  to  the  United  States,  where  he  married 
a  good  girl,  who  soon  liad  to  leave  him,  as  she  found  he  was  en- 
deavoring to  sell  her  virtue.  He  then  went  to  Marshall  College, 
representing  himself  as  a  convert  to  Protestantism ;  but  the 
honorable  directors  of  that  institution  were  not  duped  by  his  hy- 
pocrisy— they  refused  him  all  assistance.  Other  ministers  were 
not  so  delicate  in  the  choice  of  their  instruments ;  and  th  ue 
Leahy  was  enabled  for  a  period  of  ten  years  to  play  the  part  of 


2tl:0  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

an  ex-monk,  and  have  cliurches  and  pulpits  opened  to  him,  to 
thunder  against  Cathohcity  and  the  morals  of  the  clergy.  Dur- 
ing this  shameful  peregrination,  Leahy  married  and  repudiated 
four  wives,  one  of  whom  was  crippled  for  hfe  by  the  blows  she 
received  from  him  in  a  fit  of  jealous  frenzy.  We  need  not  men- 
tion the  other  victims  of  his  passions,  who  were  not  even  solaced 
by  any  pretence  of  marriage ;  the  list  would  be  too  long.  In 
spite  of  his  disorders,  Leahy  held  on  his  scandalous  sermons,  and 
the  apostate's  arrival  in  a  town  was  always  followed  by  scenes  of 
violence  between  the  impostor's  defenders  and  the  Irish,  who  en- 
deavored to  silence  the  vile  calumniator  of  their  daughters  and 
sisters,  whom  he  represented  as  victims  in  the  confessional.  The 
bishops  prevented  greater  evils,  only  by  preaching  patience  and 
resignation,  and  going  among  their  flocks  to  calm  their  minds  and 
hearts.  At  last,  Leahy's  public  life  terminated  in  a  manner  worthy 
of  its  outset.  On  the  20th  of  August,  1852,  he  appeared  in  a 
Wisconsin  court  to  accuse  his  friend  Manly  of  seducing  his  wife. 
Manly  was  acquitted,  and  Leahy,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  court, 
shot  his  rival  dead,  a»i  with  a  second  shot  wounded  a  lawyer, 
who  rushed  forward  to  stop  him.* 

Even  these  courses  of  disorder  did  not  satisfy  the  fanatics,  and 
the  arsenal  of  falsehood  soon  furnished  them  new  aiTns  against 
the  Catholics.  The  latter  were  now  accused  of  wishing  to  ex- 
clude  the   Bible  from  the   public   schools,   and  the  thousand- 


*  As  capital  punishment  is  abolished  in  Wisconsin,  Leahy  was  condemned 
to  peipetiial  imprisonment,  and  he  was  soon  expiating  his  crime  in  the  State 
Prison  at  Fond  duLac.  The  solitude  of  his  cell  seems  to  have  inspired  this 
guilty  man  with  salutary  reflections,  and  for  eighteen  months  Leahy  im- 
plored to  be  received  into  the  Church.  Bishop  Henni  subjected  him  to  a 
long  probation,  and  at  last  the  Eev.  Louis  Dael  was  authorized  to  receive 
once  more  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church  the  guilty  but  now  repentant  man. 
The  ceremony  took  place  on  the  20th  of  January,  1856.  The  way  of  the 
transgressor  is  hard ;  and  Leahy,  in  his  disgrace,  finds  how  hollow  is  the 
friendship  which  hurried  him  to  crime,  and  how  great  is  the  love  of  that 
Church  which  he  had  wronged. 


MOST   RF>V.  FRANCIS    PATRICK  KENRICK,  D.D., 


Thud  BWiop  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  and  Fifth  AnhUdiop 
Of  Baltiimre,  Md. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  241 

tongued  press  propagated  and  commented  on  the  charge.  Tlie 
Native  American  party  was  formed  to  defend  the  lOible  atta(;.ked 
by  "  foreign  papists."  Monster  meetings  are  called,  and  roused 
to  fury  by  incendiary  appeals.  The  Bible  is  solemnly  borne  in 
political  processions,  and  thousands  of  braAHug  arms  are  raised  to 
swear  to  protect  the  Holy  Book  against  the  pretended  attacks  of 
the  Ii'ish.  At  the  head  of  these  manifestations  in  Philadelphia  was 
a  ci-devant  Jew,  Levin,  who  at  a  late  date  is  conspicuous  among  the 
Know-Nothings  of  1855.  The  accusation  was  false,  like  all  the 
other  calumnies  of  the  enemies  of  God's  Church,  and  the  Con- 
trollers of  the  Public  Schools  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  twenty- 
sixth  x\nnual  Report,  declare  officially  :  "  No  attempt  has  ever 
been  made  by  any  one  in  this  Board,  nor  have  the  Controllers 
ever  been  asked  by  any  sect,  person,  or  persons,  to  exclude  the 
Bible  from  the  Pubhc  Schools." 

The  fact  was,  that  the  Catholics  of  Philadelphia,  who,  like  their 
Protestant  fellow-citizens,  paid  taxes  to  support  the  Public  Schools, 
wished  to  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  education  of  their 
children.  They  did  not  ask  to  exclude  the  Bible,  but  they  wished 
it  to  be  lawful  for  Catholic  children  to  read  the  Catholic  version 
of  the  Scriptures ;  and  this  just  request  had  been  favorably  re- 
ceived by  the  controllers  of  the  schools,  when  the  animosity  of 
the  Natives  found  it  their  game  to  misrepresent  the  question,  and 
make  it  a  war-cry  against  the  Catholics.  In  order  to  provoke  the 
Irish,  all  the  Native  meetings  were  called  in  parts  more  especially 
-uhabited  by  Catholics,  and  the  latter  were  thus  forced  to  listen 
to  all  the  abuse  vomited  forth  in  public  on  all  that  they  held  sa- 
cred and  venerable.  On  the  3d  of  May,  1844,  an  anti-Catholic 
meeting  at  Philadelphia  was  disturbed  by  the  indignant  cries  of 
the  Irish,  but  the  disorder  went  no  further  than  it  does  every  day 
(n  popular  assemblies.  Yet  no  better  pretext  was  needed  to  ac- 
celerate the  explosion,  and  the  pretext  was  found.  On  the  6th, 
armed  crowds  hasten  to  the  Irish  quarter,  and  the  battle  began. 

11 


242  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

On  the  raorning  of  the  'Zth,  an  address  of  Bishop  Kenric.k  was 
posted  up  throughout  the  city,  exhorting  the  Cathohcs  "  to  fol 
low  peace,  and  have  charity."  These  were  immediately  torn 
down  by  the  Natives,  whom  the  morning  papers  called  to  arms : 
"  The  bloody  hand  of  the  Pope  is  upon  us,"  said  these  sheets ; 
"  the  modern  St.  Bartholomew  has  begun  ;  the  Irish  papists  have 
risen  to  massacre  us."  While  fire  and  murder  desolate  the  Ken- 
sington suburb,  a  meeting  was  held  in  another  part  of  the  city 
with  a  Protestant  minister  in  the  chair.  Resolutions  were  passed 
approving  the  steps  of  the  Natives,  and  they  adjourned  by  accla- 
mation to  the  scene  of  the  riot,  to  swell  the  ranks  of  the  assail- 
ants. Many  houses  occupied  by  Irish  families  were  in  ashes ; 
women  and  children  fled  to  the  country,  without  clothing  or 
food  ;  others  are  burned  alive  in  their  burning  homes,  or  fall 
dead,  pierced  by  a  volley  as  they  attempted  to  escape.  Terror 
reigned  throughout  the  city,  and  the  inhabitants,  in  self-defence, 
wrote  on  their  doors,  "  No  popery  here,"  or  coarse  insults  to  the 
Catholics. 

On  the  8th,  the  rioters  still  ruled  the  city,  and  at  two  o'clock 
p.  M.  St.  Michael's  Church  was  in  flames.  The  champions  of  re- 
ligious liberty  applauded  during  the  conflagration,  and  one  papei 
says :  "  When  the  cross  which  surmounted  the  church  fell  into 
the  flames,  the  crowd  hurraed  in  triumph,  and  the  fife  and  drum 
struck  up  Orange  airs."  At  four  o'clock  the  incendiary  torch 
was  applied  to  the  house  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  which  was  soon  consumed.  This  Order  had  been  insti- 
tuted by  the  zeal  of  the  Rev.  T.  C.  Donoghoe,  at  the  very  time 
of  the  cholera,  and  their  devotedness  in  nursing  the  victims  of  the 
epidemic  was  so  great,  that  the  municipal  body  publicly  testified 
their  city's  gratitude,  offering  them  any  recompense  they  desired. 
The  Sisters  of  Charity  refused  these  propositions,  and  soon  found 
their  reward  in  the  ingratitude  of  their  fellow-citizens.  At  six 
o'clcck  in  the  evening,  St.  Augustine's  Church  was  fired  in  its 


IN   THE   UNITED    STATES.  243 

turn,  togetlier  with  the  rectory.  The  precious  library  of  the 
Hermits  of  St.  Augustine  was  plundered,  and  the  books  piled  up 
and  burnt.  During  the  cholera,  the  parsonage  had  been  trans- 
formed into  a  hospital  for  the  people  of  Philadelphia,  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Goodman,  in  the  pamphlet  already  cited,  says : 

"With  confusion  of  face,  yet  with  impartial  justice  before 
men  and  angels,  the  writer  will  state  that  in  the  season  of  that 
terrible  scourge,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hurley,  priest  of  St.  Augustine's, 
converted  the  Rectory,  then  in  his  occupancy,  into  a  Cholera 
Hospital,  and  placed  it  under  the  control  of  the  proper  authori- 
ties. The  doors  of  his  quiet  home  were  thrown  wide  open ; 
and  unmindful  of  the  inconvenience  to  which  such  an  act  sub- 
jected him,  he  not  only  invited  the  guardians  of  the  city's 
health  to  deposit  the  victims  of  the  pestilence  in  his  house,  but 
himself  was  employed  without  intermission  in  seeking  out  the 
wretched  creatures  upon  whom  the  dreadful  disease  had  fallen  ! 
Every  room  in  his  mansion  was  appropriated  to  this  divine 
work ;  his  own  chamber  was  given  to  the  dying,  and  that  study, 
where  he  had  learned  his  Master's  will,  was  made  the  practical 
commentary  of  the  judgment  he  had  formed  of  it.  Out  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty-seven  patients,  which  had  been  received 
in  this  private  Asylum  of  a  heavenly  charity,  forty-eight  only 
were  Catholics — the  remainder  were  professing  Protestants." 
"Go  to  that  Rectory;  mark  that  it  is  in  ruins; — that  the  very 
hospital  has  been  burnt  by  miscreants,  who  dared  to  profane  the 
name  of  Protestantism  when  they  applied  the  torch  to  the  home 
of  Catholic  priests."* 

On  the  blackened  walls  of  St.  Augustine's  Church  there 
remained  only  the  inscription,  "  The  Lord  Seeth." 

At  last,  on  the  9th  of  May,  martial  law  was  proclaimed  in 
Philadelphia;  the  military  commander  ordered  the  rioters  to 

*  The  Truth  Unveiled  by  a  Protestant  and  Native  Philadelphian.  Balti- 
tiore,  1844,  p.  21. 


244  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

disperse  in  five  minutes,  and  order  was  restored  as  soon  as  tliG 
brigands  saw  that  the  authorities  wxre  resolved  to  put  a  stop  to 
their  fury.  The  least  display  of  energy  would  have  produced 
the  same  result  three  days  before ;  but  the  disorder  must  reach 
its  height  before  authorities  will  come  forward  to  protect  the 
Catholic.  On  the  6th  of  May  the  militia  had  refused  to  take  up 
arms  unless  paid  in  advance.  They  obeyed  the  call  on  the  7th, 
but  the  rioters  defied  the  troops  to  use  their  arms,  and  at  the 
command  "  Fire,"  the  soldiers  replied,  "  How  can  we  fire  on  our 
brethren !"  St.  Michael's  Church  was  burnt  before  the  eyes  of 
the  militia  without  their  off'ering  any  resistance.  In  the  very 
worst  of  the  plunder  and  conflagi'ation,  the  Mayor  and  Sheriff 
had  a  consultation  with  the  Attorney-General,  to  know  whether 
they  had  a  right  to  use  force,  and  what  degree  of  force,  to  put 
down  the  riot!  The  legal  functionary  told  them  that  they 
could  employ  force,  and  just  as  much  as  was  necessary :  "  lie 
knows  that  the  power  has  been  sometimes  questioned,  but  he 
thinks  that  on  the  whole  he  would  employ  just  the  degree  of 
force  indispensable."  When  the  disorder  ceased  rather  from 
lassitude  than  from  its  being  repressed,  the  tactics  of  the  author- 
ities were  to  dissemble  its  importance.  They  sought  to  convey 
the  idea  that  it  had  been  the  affair  of  a  few  boys ;  and  the 
Mayor  issued  a  proclamation  calling  on  parents  to  keep  their 
children  at  home.  In  the  investigation  instituted  to  account  for 
these  deplorable  events,  the  Grand  Jury  did  not  fail  to  throw  the 
first  blame  on  the  Catholics,  and  they  saw  the  cause  of  the  riots 
— we  will  quote  their  very  words — in  "  the  efforts  of  a  portion 
of  the  community  to  -exclude  the  Bible  from  our  Public  Schools : 
the  jury  are  of  the  opinion  that  these  efforts  in  some  measure 
gave  rise  to  the  formation  of  a  new  party,  which  called  and  held 
public  meetings  in  the  District  of  Kensington,  in  the  ^^^acc/w/ 
exercise  of  the  sacred  rights  and  privileges  guaranteed  to  every 
citizei  by  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  our  State  and  country, 


IN   THE   UNITED    STATES.  245 

These  meetings  were  rudely  disturbed  and  fired  upon  by  a  band 
cf  lawless,  irresponsible  men,  some  of  whom  had  resided  in  our 
country  only  for  a  short  period.  This  outrage,  causing  the 
death  of  a  number  of  our  unoffending  citizens,  led  to  immediate 
retaliatio::,  and  was  followed  up  by  subsequent  acts  of  aggression 
in  vii^.lation  and  open  defiance  of  all  law."* 

At  this  shameful  attempt  to  exonerate  the  Natives  at  their 
expense,  the  Catholics  called  a  meeting  and  made  an  address  to 
their  fellow-citizens  to  restore  the  facts  in  their  truth.  They 
had  no  difficulty  in  proving  that  the  first  victims  were  Irishmen, 
and  that  the  Catholics  had  never  made  any  attempts  to  exclude 
the  Bible  from  the  public  schools.f  Men  of  good  faith  were 
convinced;  but  incendiaries  never  found  recruits  in  their  ranks; 
and  the  want  of  energy  in  repressing  the  violence  soon  evoked 
another  riot  in  another  district  of  Philadelphia. 

On  Friday,  the  5th  of  July,  1844,  the  pastor  of  St.  Philip 
Neri's  Church,  in  the  Southwark  suburb,  was  warned  that  his 
church  would  be  attacked  the  following  night.  The  Governor 
of  the  State  having  authorized  the  formation  of  additional  com- 
panies of  militia,  one  had  been  formed  in  the  congregation  of 
this  church  and  its  armory  was  in  the  basement.  Meetings  were 
at  once  called  to  avenge  this  provocation  of  the  Catholics.  The 
Sheriff  went  to  the  church,  and  seized  the  arms !  but  the  crowd 
was  not  satisfied,  and  insisted  that  a  delegation  of  their  body 
should  examine  the  church  to  see  that  no  arms  are  concealed  there. 
Gratified  on  this  point,  as  they  have  invariably  been  in  attacks 
on  Catholic  churches  in  the  United  States,  the  crowd  instead  of 
dispersing,  became  doubly  bold ;  they  threatened  to  renew  the 
scenes  of  May.     General  Cadwallader  called  out  the  militia  and 


*  Presentment  of  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  o* 
Kay  Term,  1844. 

t  Address  of  Catholic  lay  citizens  of  the  city  and  county  of  Philtv- 
lel|  hia. 


246  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

ordered  tlie  crowd  to  disperse ;  but  the  Honorable  Charles  Nay- 
lor,  an  cx-member  of  Congress  ordered  out :  "  Do  not  fire  on 
the  people,"  and  harangued  the  troops  to  induce  them  to  diso- 
bey their  ofiicers.  But  the  orator  was  soon  arrested  and  con- 
fined in  the  basement  of  the  church.  The  rioters  then  brought 
up  two  field-pieces,  and  charging  them  with  blocks  of  wood, 
drove  in  the  church  doors  and  rescued  Naylor.  They  dis- 
armed the  Montgomery  Hibernian  Greens  who  had  been  left 
in  charge  of  the  prisoners ;  they  command  them  to  retire ; 
but  treacherously  attack  them  as  they  withdrew,  and  cut  down 
several. 

General  Cadwallader,  who  here  laid  the  foundations  of  his 
military  fame,  afterwards  so  glorious  in  the  Mexican  War,  now 
came  to  the  relief  of  his  guard,  and  a  brisk  cannonade  began. 
On  Monday,  the  riot  still  continued,  and  the  civil  authorities  of 
Southwaik,  unable  to  quell  it,  made  terms.  The  troops  were 
withdrawn,  and  by  dint  of  proclamations,  and  appeals  to  con- 
cord, by  dint  of  lauding  the  intelligence  of  the  masses  and  their 
respect  for  the  law,  the  authorities  succeeded  in  calming  the 
effervescence  and  restoring  order  by  disorder. 

Such  were  the  Philadelphia  riots,  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Good  • 
man  characterizes  in  these  terms  :  "  Nativism  has  existed  for  a 
period  hardly  reaching  five  months,  and  in  that  time  of  its 
being,  what  has  been  seen?  Two  Catholic  churches  burned, 
one  twice  fired  and  desecrated,  a  Catholic  seminary  and  retreat 
consumed  by  the  torches  of  an  incendiary  mob,  two  rectories 
and  a  most  valuable  library  destroyed,  forty  dwellings  in  ruins, 
about  forty  human  fives  sacrificed,  and  sixty  of  our  fellow-citi- 
zens wounded ;  riot,  and  rebellion,  and  treason  rampant  on  two 
occasions  in  our  midst ;  the  laws  boldly  set  at  defiance,  and 
peace  and  order  prostrated  by  ruffian  violence  ! !  These  are  the 
horrid  events  which  have  taken  place  among  us  since  the  organ- 
ization ;  and  they  are  mentioned  for  no  other  purpose,  than  that 


m   THE    UNITED   STATES.  24:7 

reflection  be  entered  npon  by  the  community,  wliicli  liii«  bcoc 
so  immeasurably  disgraced  by  these  terrible  acts."* 

Rarely  does  justice  in  the  United  States  overtake  the  guilty 
in  these  popular  eruptions ;  but  public  opinion  finally  sides  with 
the  victims  of  fanaticism ;  and  when  oppression  assumes  too 
iniquitous  a  form,  a  reaction  is  sure  to  show  itself  in  favor  of  the 
weak  and  persecuted.  The  Catholics  experienced  this  change 
in  the  feelings  of  the  Nation ;  and  as  we  have  shown  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter,  they  were  in  1846  more  free  in  the  exercise  o£ 
their  worship  and  more  respected  in  their  faith,  than  at  any 
previous  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  United  States.  At  the 
present  moment  the  period  of  anti-Catholic  agitation  begins 
anew,  and  the  ministers  of  error  have  recourse  to  their  old  tricks 
to  fetter  the  wonderful  progress  of  the  Church.  Gavazzi  plays 
Leahy's  part.  Miss  Bunkley  that  of  Miss  Reed ;  pamphlets  are 
scattei'^d  around  to  denounce  the  pretended  crimes  of  convent 
life.  The  unoflfending  visit  of  a  venerable  Nuncio  is  cited  as  a 
living  proof  of  the  Pope's  designs  on  the  liberties  of  America. 
Lamentations  begin  about  the  Bible,,  and  the  Protestant  faithful 
are  called  upon  to  defend  the  Sacred  Volume,  still  menaced  by 
the  Papists.  The  riots  and  devastation  at  Louis^'ille  recall  those 
of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Know-Nothings  of  1855  are  a  copy  of  the 
Native  Americans  of  1844.  Like  the  latter  they  are  impelled 
by  Free  Masonry,  and  Irish  Orangeism  in  crossing  the  Atlantic 
has  lost  neither  its  nature  nor  its  principles.  There  is  then 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  crimes  already  committed 
against  the  Church,  as  well  as  those  about  to  come,  will  have  no 


*  The  judgment  of  God  on  the  authors  of  sacrilege  are  as  evident  in 
America  as  elsewliere.  Among  the  natives  of  1844,  concerned  in  the  de- 
struction of  the  cliurches,  was  Col.  Peter  Albright.  He  led  the  mob  at  St. 
MichacPs,  and  exulted  that  the  record  of  his  baptism  was  destroyed  at  St, 
Augustine's,  for  he  was  the  son  of  Catholic  parents.  He  died  soon  aftei, 
very  wretchedly,  in  an  oyster  cellar ;  his  brother  Jjicob  perished  at  g  fire, 
bis  widow  and  daughter  were  drowned  in  the  Delaware,  in  1856. 


2tl:8  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

olher  result,  than  to  advance  tlie  reaction  in  favor  of  tlie  CatliO' 
lies  in  the  really  sound  portion  of  the  American  mind.  Besides, 
God  protects  the  Church,  and  has  in  store  for  it  after  these  days 
cf  trial,  days  of  liberty  in  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

DIOCESE  OP  PHILADELPHIA— (1844-1878). 

Division  of  the  Diocese— State  of  Delaware— The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart— The  Sis- 
ters of  the  Visitation— The  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame— Father  Virgil  Barber  and  his 
family— Works  of  Bishop  F.  P.  Kenrick— His  translation  to  the  metropolitan  See  of 
Baltimore— Rt.  Kev.  John  N.  Neumann,  fourth  bishop  of  Philadelphia— Most  Rev. 
J.  F.  Wood,  first  archbishop  of  Philadelphia  Diocese  of  Scranton— Diocese  of 
Harrlsburg. 

After  the  conflagration  of  St.  Augustine's  Church,  the  congre- 
gation of  that  church  were  hospitably  received  by  old  St.  Joseph's, 
where  they  had  Mass  and  Vespers  at  special  hours,  so  as  not  to 
interfere  with  the  usual  services  of  that  parish.  In  1845  the 
Hermits  of  St.  Augustine  built  a  schoolhouse  on  the  site  of  their 
old  rectory,  and  used  it  as  a  temporary  chapel  till  the  county 
allov/ed  them  damages  for  their  loss,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  re- 
build tiien*  church.  The  amount  claimed  was  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  for  three  years  the  county  officers  kept  the 
atfair  before  the  courts  and  exhausted  every  subterfuge  to  escape 
payment.  Among  the  objections  put  forward  by  the  counsel  was 
one  which  should  be  given  as  a  proof  of  the  intense  stupidity, 
ignorance,  or  bad  faith  of  the  Pennsylvania  bar.  In  order  to  en- 
velop the  missionaries  in  the  prejudice  against  the  negroes,  and 
BO  array  the  jury  against  them,  it  was  stated  that  the  Augustini- 
ans  had  been  founded  by  an  African  negro !  In  spite  of  all, 
however,  forty-five  thousand  dollars  were  allowed,  and  in  1847  the 
new  church  of  St.  Augustine  was  opened  for  service. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  249 

At  St.  Michael's  a  slied  was  raised  among  the  ruins,  and  sei'vea 
as  a  temporary  chapel  for  some  years,  till  they  obtained  of  the 
county  the  indemnity  which  the  law  imposed,  and  applied  it  to 
build  the  church.  Thus,  loth  indeed  and  reluctantly,  Pennsyl- 
vania repaired,  at  least  in  part,  the  material  losses  caused  by  the 
riots  of  1844,  while  Massachusetts,  with  all  her  boasted  superi- 
ority, has  constantly  refused  from  1834  to  the  present  moment  to 
indemnify  the  Bishop  of  Boston  for  the  frightful  destruction  of 
tlie  Ursuline  Convent  of  Mount  Benedict. 

As  the  number  of  the  faithful  increased  in  Philadelphia,  the 
extent  of  the  State  rendered  the  episcopal  charge  too  heavy  for 
one  prelate. 

The  third  and  fifth  Councils  of  Baltimore  had  asked  the  divi- 
sion of  the  diocese,  and  the  Sovereign  Pontifi'  efl'ected  it  in  1843 
by  electing  the  Rt.  Rev.  Michael  O'Connor  to  the  See  of  Pitts- 
burg. This  new  diocese  comprised  under  its  jurisdiction  the 
western  part  of  Pennsylvania,  and  we  shall  speak  of  it  in  the  en- 
suing chapter.  The  diocese  of  Philadelphia  retained  the  eastern 
part  of  Pennsylvania,  the  State  of  Delaware,  and  Western  New 
Jersey.  The  last  portion  was  detached  from  it  in  1853,  and  the 
whole  State  of  New  Jersey  was  formed  into  the  diocese  of  New- 
ark ;  and  at  a  later  date  Delaware  was  taken  to  form  part  of  the 
new  diocese  of  Wilmington. 

Delaware,  one  of  the  smallest  States  in  the  Union,  containing 
If  only  ninety  thousand  inhabitants,  owes  its  name  to  Lord  De  la 
Ware,  one  of  the  early  governors  of  Virginia,  in  honor  of  whom 
the  river  Delaware  received  that  appellation,  which  it  eventually 
gave  to  the  Indians  on  its  banks  and  to  the  little  State  at  its 
mouth.  The  colonization  of  this  part  of  the  American  coast  was 
first  projected  by  Gusta^^s  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden,  after 
whose  death  Oxenstiern  put  his  plan  in  execution  by  sending 
out  in  1638  two  ships  with  settlers.  A  Swedish  minister  came 
%s  chaplain,  and  Lutheranism  was  the  first  creed  of  New  Sweden^ 

11* 


250  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Tvhich  gi'adiially  grew  up  around  Fort  Christina,  so  called  froni 
that  queen  who  at  a  later  date  renounced  throne  and  home  to  re- 
turn to  the  creed  of  her  forefathers.  The  Dutch  of  New  Amster- 
dam (New  York)  set  up  claims  to  the  part  occupied  by  the 
Swedes,  and  conquered  it  in  1655.  It  then  contained  seven  hun- 
dred European  inhabitants.  Nine  years  after,  the  Dutch  in  their 
turn  yielded  to  the  English,  and  Delaware  was  successively  an- 
nexed to  New  York  and  Pennsylvania;  but  at  last,  in  1703,  "the 
three  counties  on  the  Delaware,"  Newcastle,  Kent,  and  Sussex, 
resolved  to  form  a  separate  colony,  and  not  to  send  delegates  to 
the  Pennsylvania  Assembly.  Delaware  thus  saw  a  population 
gather  of  Swedish  Lutherans,  Dutch  Calvinists,  English  Episco- 
palians, and  Quakers.  More  than  a  century  after  Sweden  had 
lost  all  authority  over  the  colony,  the  National  Church  of  Stock- 
holm continued  to  maintain  missionaries  among  their  fellow- 
believers  in  America,  and  the  Lutheran  Church  there  even  now 
keeps  up  a  certain  intercourse  with  the  established  Church  in 
Sweden,  like  that  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  with  the  Classis 
in  Holland,  and  the  Episcopal  with  the  Anglican  Church. 

To  the  honor  of  the  Swedish  Lutherans,  it  must  be  stated  that 
they  showed  more  zeal  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  than 
either  the  Calvinists  of  Holland,  or  the  Puritans,  Quakers,  or 
Episcopalians  of  England.  The  catechism  of  Luther  was  trans- 
lated into  Delaware  by  the  missionary  Campanius,  and  an  edition 
printed  at  Stockholm  in  1690  by  the  Swedish  king  for  gratuitous 
distribution  amona*  the  Indians. 

Amid  all  the  hostile  sects  on  the  soil  of  DelaAvare,  the  Catholic 
element  did  not  appear  till  late,  and  it  still  constitutes  only  a 
small  portion  of  the  population.  Some  old  Catholic  families  of 
honor  in  our  national  annals  are  claimed  by  Delaware,  and 
among  them  we  need  only  mention  the  gallant  Shubricks.  At 
the  French  Revolvttion,  too,  some  French  Catholics  settled  in  and 
uear  Wilmington,  where  Huguenots  had  removed  before  them. 


IN   THE    UNirED   STATES.  25:1 

The  number  of  Catholics,  however,  remained  small.  Yet  the 
Sisters  of  Charity  from  Emmetsbnrg  founded  one  of  their  first 
nouses  at  Wilmington,  and  opened  an  academy  about  1830,  and 
some  years  after,  an  orphan  asylum.  The  happy  results  of  this 
school  in  the  education  of  young  girls  soon  induced  the  Catholics 
of  Delaware  to  seek  a  college  for  their  boys,  and  the  zealous  pas- 
tor of  Wilmington,  the  Rev.  Patrick  Reilly,  at  great  sacrifice 
opened  in  1839  a  school  which  has  become  a  flourishing  college. 
In  1847  the  State  Legislature  granted  this  institution  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  a  university  ;  a  corps  of  seven  professors  devote 
themselves  to  the  education  of  the  young  men,  and  the  most 
eminent  Protestant  citizens  are  patrons  of  the  work. 

Under  the  able  and  vigilant  administration  of  Bishop  Kenrick, 
the  religious  estabhshments  extended  rapidly  in  other  parts  of  the 
diocese.  In  1838  the  Seminary  of  St.  Charles  Borromeo  at 
Philadelphia  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  from  1841  to  1853  it  was  directed  by  Lazarists,  who 
were  succeeded  by  secular  priests,  on  the  transfer  of  Bishop  Ken- 
rick to  the  metropolitan  See  of  Baltiniore.  In  1842  the  Hermits 
of  St.  Augustine  opened  a  college  at  Villanova,*  but  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  church  and  Hbrary  at  Philadelphia  exhausted  their 
resources  and  deranged  all  their  plans ;  still,  they  successfully  re 
sumed  the  college  exercises  in  1846,  and  the  Augustinians  now 
also  possess  at  Villanova  a  beautiful  monastery  and  novitiate. 

In  1851  the  Jesuits  founded  St.  Joseph's  College  in  Philadel- 
phia, which  was  removed  to  a  more  spacious  building  four  yearg 
later;  and  in  1852  the  Rev.  J.  Vincent  O'Reilly  opened  in  Sus- 
quehanna county  another  college  under  the  name  of  St.  Joseph. 

AMien  Bishop  Kenrick  was  appointed  Coadjutor  of  Philadel- 


■•^  Villauova  i?  thirteen  rniles  from  Philadelphia,  on  the  great  Pennsylvania 
Railroad.  In  1841,  Dr.  Moriarty,  Superior  of  the  AnG:n?tlnians,  purchased 
two  hundred  acres  there,  which  are  cultivated  by  the  lay  brothers  of  the 
Order,  and  furnidh  important  resources  for  the  college  and  community. 


252  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

phia,  the  diocese  possessed  only  a  few  Sisters  of  Charity  from 
Emrnetsburg,  who  had  charge  of  an  orphan  asyhim.  Now  six 
religious  communities  of  women  devote  themselves  to  all  the 
works  of  mercy,  and  effect  incalculable  good.  In  1842  the  La- 
dies of  the  Sacred  Heart  opened  a  boarding-school  for  girls  at 
McSherrystown,  near  the  Jesuit  mission  of  Conewago.  In  1847 
this  community  opened  a  school  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  1849 
purchased  the  beautiful  spot  called  Eden  Hall^  which  offers  far 
greater  advantages  than  McSherrystown.  The  Ladies  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  accordingly  left  the  latter  house,  which  became  the 
novitiate  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph.  The  institute  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  founded  in  France  in  1800  by  Father  Joseph  Varin,  of  the 
Society  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  approved  in  1826  by  Pope  Loo 
XIL,  has  had  a  Superior-general  since  its  origin,  Madame  Magda- 
lene Josephine  Barat.  The  mother  house  is  at  Paris,  and  it  gov- 
erns the  whole  Order.  In  IBlY  the  first  establishment  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  in  America  was  founded  in  Missouri,  and  from  that 
time  these  pious  and  distinguished  ladies  have  extended  to  the 
dioceses  of  New  Orleans,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Detroit,  Albany, 
Buffalo,  and  the  Vicariate-apostolic  of  Indian  Territory.  Three 
hundred  and  fifty  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  devote  themselves  to 
the  education  of  young  ladies  in  twelve  academies,  and  maintain 
besides,  in  connection  with  many  of  their  establishments,  free 
schools  for  poor  girls. 

In  the  year  1848  the  Visitation  Sisters,  from  Georgetown,  in 
their  turn  opened  an  academy  at  Philadelphia,  and  about  the 
same  time  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  came  from  St.  Louis  to  the 
same  city  to  take  charge  of  St.  John's  Orphan  Asylum.  Tlie 
community  of  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  came  into  existence  at  Puy  in 
Velay,  France,  where  it  was  erected  by  the  Bishop  of  Puy, 
Henry  de  Maupas,  at  the  sohcitation  of  the  Jesuit  Father  Medaille. 
In  the  course  of  his  missions  this  Father  assembled  some  holy 
/irgins  who  longed  to  devote  themselves  to  God,  and  in  1650  the 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  253 

care  of  the  orphan  asylum  at  Puy  was  confided  to  them.  Smee 
:hen  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  have  extended  to  almost  every  dio- 
cese in  France,  and  have  establishments  also  in  Savoy  and  Cor- 
sica. In  1836  six  Sisters  of  this  congi-egation  proceeded  from 
the  diocese  of  Lyons  to  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  under  the  protection 
of  Bishop  Rosati.  In  1838  two  others,  who  had  learned  in 
Fi'ance  the  manner  of  teaching  the  deaf  and  dumb,  came  over 
and  joined  them.  They  soon  spread  greatly  in  the  United  Stales, 
and  now  number  over  a  hundred  Sisters;  they  have  houses  ol 
their  Order  in  the  dioceses  of  St.  Louis,  Philadelphia,  Buffalo, 
AVheeling,  Quincy,  and  St.  Paul ;  their  principal  house  is  at  Ca- 
roudelet,  six  miles  south  of  St.  Louis,  and  in  1851  they  sent  a 
colony  from  Philadelphia  to  Toronto,  in  Canada  West.  This 
congregation  undertakes  all  works  of  mercy,  such  as  the  care  of 
hospitals,  prisons,  houses  of  refuge,  orphan  asylums,  also  directing 
schools  and  visiting  the  sick  in  their  dwellings.  At  Philadelphia 
the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  conduct  St.  Anne's  AVidows'  Asylum, 
and  teach  twelve  hundred  children  in  their  schools.  Their  novi- 
tiate is  at  McSherrystown,  in  the  old  convent  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  and  in  1855  it  contained  eleven  novices  and  six  postulants. 
In  1849  Bishop  Kenrick  also  enriched  his  diocese  with  a  com- 
munity of  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  in  order  to  create  an 
asylum  for  sinful  women,  who  wish  to  leave  a  life  of  disorder 
and  embrace  virtue.  This  community,  under  the  name  of  Our 
Lady  of  Charity,  was  first  established  in  1641  at  Caen,  in  Nor- 
mandy, by  the  celebrated  Father  Eudes,  founder  of  the  society  of 
priests  called  Eudists.  Father  Eudes,  whose  sermons  reached 
every  conscience,  effected  a  revolution  in  the  Hfe  o^  many  wlu 
lived  in  vice.  To  maintain  these  in  the  path  of  duty,  he  assem- 
bled them  together  and  put  them  under  the  direction  of  some 
holy  Sisters.  The  community  was  approved  in  1666,  by  Pope 
Alexander  VIL,  and  in  1741  by  Benedict  XIV.  It  acquii-ed 
great  extent  in  France ;  in  1835  the  house  at  Angers  separated 


2o4:  THE    CATHOLIC   CHUBCH 

from  tlie  other  houses,  and  was  erectea  by  Pope  Gregory  XVI. 
the  generalate  of  a  new  branch,  which  added  to  the  name  of  Our 
Lady  of  Charity  that  of  Good  Shepherd,  and  which  has  spread 
remarkably.  The  first  estabhshmeut  of  this  venerable  Order  in 
the  United  States  was  made  at  Louisville  in  1842.  They  arrived 
in  Philadelphia  in  1849,  and  took  care  of  the  Asylum  for  Widows 
till  1851,  when  they  were  enabled  to  open  an  asylum  for  penitent 
women.  They  have  now  thirty-six  penitents,  and  receive  Protest- 
ants as  well  as  Cathohcs.  A  house  of  the  Good  Shepherd  was 
founded  in  St.  Louis  in  1849,  and  the  Archbishop  of  New  York 
is  now  collecting*  the  funds  necessary  to  erect  an  asylum,  the  need 
of  Avhich  is  felt  in  the  great  city  where  he  has  his  metropolitan  See. 
While  young  girls  of  American,  Irish,  and  French  origin  find 
in  the  diocese  of  Philadelphia  abundant  resources  for  education 
at  the  Sacred  Heart  Visitation,  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  and  the 
Sisters  of  Charity,  the  German  portion  have  had,  since  1849,  the 
School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  at  St.  Peter's  Church,  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  Redemptorists  founded  this  church  in  1843,  and 
immediately  opened  schools  for  boys.  Then,  as  soon  as  their  re- 
sources j3ermitted,  they  invited  the  Bavarian  School  Sisters  of 
Notre  Dame,  who  direct  the  German  schools  in  a  great  many 
parishes  served  by  the  Redemptorists.  In  spite  of  their  German 
origin,  these  good  Sisters  preserve  the  French  name  of  Notre 
Dame,  a  proof  that  their  primitive  foundation  was  not  made  in 
Germany.  They  were,  in  fact,  founded  in  Lorraine  in  1597, 
under  the  name  of  Sisters  of  the  Congregation  of  Notre  Dame, 
by  the  Blessed  Peter  Fourier  and  the  venerable  Mother  Alice 
Leclerc*     Their  community  was  authorized  by  the  Bishop  of 

*  Mother  Alice  Leclerc,  born  in  1576,  died  in  1622  :  the  process  of  her 
canonization  was  begun,  but  was  finally  suspended  in  consequence  of  the 
revolutions.  The  Blessed  Peter  Fourier  was  born  at  Mirecourt  in  Lorraine, 
the  loth  of  November,  1565 ;  he  was  the  reformer  of  the  Canons  Regular  of 
Lorraine,  and  founder  of  the  congregation  of  Notre  Dame.  He  died  at  Gray 
on  the  0th  of  November,  1640,  and  was  beatified  by  bulls  of  January  29, 1850 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  255 

TcuMn  1598,  aud  tlieir  first  rule  made  by  the  Blessed  Peter, 
and  approved  iu  1G03  by  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  Legate  of  the' 
Holy  See.     Pope  Paul  V.  erected  the  houses  of  the  Order  into 
monasteries  by  his  bulls  of  February  1,  1615,  and  October  6, 
1616;  and  iu  the  course  of  the  seventeenth  century  there  were 
no  less  than  eighty  monasteries  of  this  institute  in  France,  Lor- 
raine, Germany,  and  Savoy.     On  the  dispersion  of  the  reli'o-ious 
communities  in  the  Reign  of  Terror,  those  in  France  were  broken 
up,  and  about  the  same  time,  under  the  impulse  of  the  doctrines 
of  Joseph  L  of  Austria,  the  houses  in  the  electorate  of  Bavaria 
were  suppressed  and  the  Sisters  dispersed.     The  loss  was  deeply 
felt,  and  the  pious  Bishop  Wittman   of  Ratisbon,  in   1832,  re- 
solved to  re^dve  their  Order  and  restore  their  house  at  Stadt-am- 
hof.     The  rule  was  modified  to  suit  the  changed  circumstances 
of  the  times ;  and  as  they  were  intended  only  for  education,  they 
took  the  name  of  School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame.     Mother  Mary 
Theresa,  the  first  Superior-general,  still  survives,  and  had  the  con- 
solation of  seeing  her  Order  formally  approved  by  his  Holiness 
Pope  Pius  IX.,  on  the  23d  of  January,  1854. 

Prior  to  this,  in  1847,  she  sent  from  the  mother  house,  at  Mu- 
nich, three  Sisters  to  found  a  house  at  Bahimore.  The  mother 
house  of  the  Order  in  the  United  States  is  at  Milwaukie,  and  the 
residence  of  Sister  Mary  Caroline,  the  Vice  Superior-general. 
They  had  in  1855  twenty-one  novices  and  as  many  postulants, 
and  direct  German  schools  in  the  dioceses  of  Milwaukie,  Balti- 
more, Philadelphia,  New  York,  Pittsbuig,  Buff-alo,  and  Detroit. 

AMiile  the  Sisters  of  the  Congregation  of  Notre  Dame  are 
increasing  in  Bavaria,  and  sending  colonies  to  the  United  Slates, 
another  part  of  America  beholds  in  a  state  of  prosperity  a  con' 
gregation  which  bears  the  same  name  of  Notre  Dame,  and  which 
seems  to  us  to  have  some  ties  with  the  pious  institute  of  Mil^ 
waukie.  In  1826,  a  monastery  of  the  congregation  was  estab- 
lished at  Troyes,  in  Champagne,  under  the  episcopate  of  Ren6 


256  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

de  Breslay.  In  1653,  Monsieur  de  Maissonneuve,  first  Governor 
of  Montreal,  in  Canada,  went  to  Troyes,  where  the  Sisters  of 
Notre  Dame  begged  him  to  take  some  of  their  rehgious  to  di- 
rect the  schools  in  this  new  colony.  Mr.  de  Maissonneuve  coald 
not  bear  the  expense  of  this  new  foundation,  and  he  moreover 
believed  that,  in  the  precarious  state  of  the  colony,  an  order  of 
cloistered  religious  would  not  render  all  the  service  to  be  desired. 
He  accordingly  took  with  him  only  Margaret  Bourgeoys,  prefect 
of  the  external  congregation  founded  by  the  Sisters  at  Troyes  ; 
and  the  holy  virgin  became  at  Montreal  the  foundress  of  the 
Congregation  of  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  which  now  com- 
prises in  Canada  twenty-five  missions,  two  hundred  Sisters,  and 
instructs  five  thousand  six  hundred  girls.*  There  is  still  another 
community  in  the  United  States,  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Sisters  of  Notre  Dame ;  but  its  origin  is  difierent.  It  was  found- 
ed in  1804,  by  Father  Joseph  Varin  and  Mother  Julia  Billiard. 
The  mother  house  is  at  Namur,  in  Belgium ;  and  it  has  houses  in 
the  United  States,  in  the  dioceses  of  Cincinnati,  Boston,  and  San 
Francisco. 

We  see  with  what  admirable  zeal  Bishop  Kenrick  labored  to 
afford  his  diocese  the  benefits  of  numerous  religious  communi- 
ties ;  and  the  venerable  prelate  was  not  less  successful  in  in- 
creasing the  number  of  his  parochial  clergy.  When  he  became 
Coadjutor  of  Philadelphia  in  1 830,  the  diocese  contained  only  thirty 
priests.  When  the  confidence  of  the  Holy  See  called  him,  in 
1851,  to  the  Archbishopric  of  Baltimore,  he  left  to  his  successor 
ninety-four  churches  and  eight  chapels,  with  one  hundred  and 
one  priests  in  the  diocese,  besides  forty-six  seminarians,  although 
half  of  Pennsylvania  had  been  erected  into  the  new  diocese  oi 
Pittsburg.     The  clergy  formed  by  the  example  of  Bishop  Ken- 

*.Helyot,  Histoive  des  Ordres  Religieux  (edition  Migne),  i.  1088.  Faillon, 
Vie  de  la  Soeur  Bourgeoys,  Villemarie,  1853.  Laroclie  Heron,  Les  Servaute? 
de  Dien,  Canada.    Montreal,  1855,  p.  43. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  257 

rick  has  counted  io  its  ranks  the  most  eminent  members  of  the 
Church  m  the  United  States  :  the  Rev.  John  Hughes,  Pastor  of 
St.  John's,  Philadelphia,  now  Archbishop  of  New  York-    the 
Rev.  Peter  R.  Kenrick,   Vicar  of  the  Cathedral  in   183g'  and 
now  Archbisliop  of  St.  Louis ;  the  Rev.  Edward  Barron  Vicar- 
general  of  the  diocese  in  1839,  and  in  1843  Vicar-apostolic  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Guinea ;  the  Rev.  F.  X.  Gartland,  Vicar  of  St 
John's  m   1834,  and  in  1850  Bishop  of  Savannah  ;  the    Rev 
Michael  O'Connor,  Pastor  of  Morristown  in  1840,  and  in  1843 
Bishop  of  Pittsburg;  the  Rev.  Thomas  Heyden,  Pastor  of  St 
Paul's,  Pittsburg,  in  1838,  who  has  repeatedly  refused  to  quit  his 
parish  of  Bedford  to  assume  the  mitre. 

But  we  owe  a  special  mention  to  a  holy  religious,  who  exer- 
cised the  ministry  in  Pennsylvania  for  several  years-in  1836 
at  Conewago,  and  in  1834  at  Philadelphia.     In  1807,  the  Rev 
Daniel  Barber,  Congregational ist  minister  in  New  England  had 
baptized  m  his  sect  Miss  Allen,  daughter  of  the  celebrated  Amer- 
ican general,  Ethan  Allen,  so  renowned  in  Vermont,  his  native 
State.     The  young  lady  was  then  twenty-one  years  of  age  •  she 
eoon  after  proceeded  to  Montreal,  where,  entering  the  academy 
ot  the  Sisters  of  the  Congregation  of  Notre  Dame,  she  became  a 
Catholic,  and  devoting  herself  to  God,  joined  the  community  of 
Hospital  Nuns,  at  the  Hotel  Dieu,  where  she  died  piously  in 
1819,  having  induced  the  Protestant  physician  who  attended  her 
to  embrace  Catholicity  by  the  mere  spectacle  of  her  last  mo- 
ments.     The  conversion  of  Sister  Allen  produced  other  fruits  of 
grace  on  her  co-religionists,  and  her  former  pastor,  the  Rev.  Mr 
Barber,  after  becoming  a  member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
sect,  halted  not  in  the  way  of  truth,  but  abjured  the  errors  of  the 
pretended  Reformation,  in   1816.     The  son  of  this  cler<.yman 
the  Rev.  Virgil  Barber,  born  on  the  9th  of  May,  1782,  w^s  also' 
a  minister.     He,  too,  had  been  convinced  of  the  necessity  of 
joining  the   Church  of  Rome,   and  entered  it  with  his  fuiher. 


258  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Mrs.  Virgil  Barber  followed  their  example,  and  slie  and  lier  bus- 
band  resolved  to  abandon  all  and  separate  from  each  other,  for 
God's  service.  Mr.  Virgil  Barber,  in  consequence,  went  to  Rome 
in  1817,  and  obtained  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  the  authority 
necessary  for  the  step.  He  entered  the  ecclesiastical  state,  was 
ordained  in  that  city,  and  after  spending  two  years  there,  returned 
from  Europe,  bringing  his  wife  authorization  to  embrace  the  re- 
ligious state.  She  had  entered  the  Visitation  Nuns  at  George- 
town, and  for  two  years  followed  the  novitiate.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Barber  had  five  children,  four  daughters  and  one  son.  The  last 
was  placed  at  the  Jesuit  College  at  Georgetown,  while  the  daugh- 
ters were  at  the  Academy  of  the  Visitation,  yet  without  knowing 
that  their  mother  was  a  novice  in  the  house.  The  time  of  her 
probation  having  expired,  the  five  children  were  brought  to  the 
chapel  to  witness  their  mother's  profession,  and  at  the  same  time, 
on  the  steps  of  the  altar,  their  father  devoting  himself  to  God  as 
a  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus !  At  this  touching  and  unex- 
pected sight,  the  poor  children  burst  into  sobs,  believing  them- 
selves forsaken  on  earth.  But  their  Father  who  is  in  heaven 
watched  over  them  ;  he  inspired  the  four  daughters  with  the  de- 
sire of  embracing  the  religious  state,  and  three  of  them  entered 
the  Ursuhnes :  one  at  Quebec,  one  at  Boston,  and  one  ai  Three 
Rivers.  The  fourth  made  her  profession  among  the  Visitandines 
of  Georgetown  ;  their  brother  Samuel  was  received  into  the  So- 
ciety of  Jesus,  and  is  now  at  Frederick.'* 

Father  Virgil  Barber,  after  filling  with  general  edification  sev- 
eral posts  in  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  became  Professor  of 
Hebrew  in  Georgetown  College,  and  died  there  March  27,  1847, 


*  Faillon,  Vie  de  M'lle  Mance,  et  Histoire  de  I'Hotel  Dieu  de  Villemarie,  i. 
294  ;  Catholic  Almanac  for  1848,  p.  263.  Sister  Mary  Barber  (of  St.  Benedict) 
witnessed  the  destruction  of  the  Ursuliiie  Convent,  near  Boston,  and  died  at 
Quebec,  May  9,  1848.  Sister  Catharine  Barber  (of  St.  Thon-.as)  followed 
Bishop  Odin  to  Texas,  in  184'J. 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  259 

at  the  age  of  sixty-five.  Sister  Barber  long  resided  at  Kjiskas 
kia,  Illinois,  where  she  founded  a  Monastery  of  the  Visitation. 
The  grace  of  conversion  extended  also  to  other  members  of  the 
family,  and  a  nephew  and  pupil  of  Father  Virgil  Barber,  Wil- 
liam Tyler,  born  in  Protestantism  at  Derby,  Vermont,  in  1804, 
became  in  1844  first  Catholic  Bishop  of  Hartford,  and  died  in 
his  diocese  in  1849. 

This  is  not  the  only  example  which  the  United  States  presents 
of  married  persons,  who,  on  embracing  Catholicity,  have  carried 
the  sacrifice  to  its  utmost  limits,  and  asked  as  a  signal  favor  to 
devote  themselves  to  the  religious  state.     Father  John  Austin 
Hall,  a  Dominican  and  Apostle  of  Ohio  from  1822  to  1828,  was 
an  English  oflicer  of  many  years'  standing,  who,  touched  by  the 
spectacle  ofi-ered  by  religion  in  Italy  and  France,  abjured  heresy, 
and  converted  his  family  and  his  sister.     The  latter  and  his  wife' 
entered  a  commumty  of  English  Augustinian  Nuns  in  Belgium, 
while  Father  Hall  assumed  the  habit  of  St.  Dominic  ;  and  this 
zealous  missionary,  dying  at  Canton,  Ohio,  in  1828,  left  to  the 
United  States  the  reputation  of  the  most  eminent  virtues.     But 
these  separations  from  religious  motives  have  at  times  been  the 
occasion  of  scandals  in  the  Church,  and  the  prosecutions  insti- 
tuted by  the  Rev.  Pierce  Connelly  have  been  too  widely  made 
known,  for  us  to  pass  over  them  here. 

The  Rev.  Pierce  Connelly  was  minister  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  at  Natchez,  Mississippi,  in  1827,  and  was  distinguished 
by  his  Puseyite  tendencies,  which  drew  on  him  the  violent  at- 
tacks of  the  Protestant  press.  In  1836  he  set  out  for  Europe 
accompanied  by  his  wife.  She  became  a  Catholic  at  New  Or- 
leans some  days  before  setting  sail,  and  her  husband  followed 
her  example  at  Rome,  in  the  Church  of  Trinite  de  Monti,  March 
28th,  1836.  In  the  first  fervor  of  their  conversion,  they  asked 
to  devote  themselves  to  God  by  the  vows  of  religion ;  but  wer 
dissuaded  from  accomplishing  the  sacrifice,  and  after  two  ^ ear 


re  re 


260  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

spent  in  Rome  and  France,  they  returned  to  America,  wliere 
they  lived  several  years  in  retirement.  In  the  month  of  Jidy, 
1842,  Mr.  Connelly  gave  a  lecture  in  the  Cathedral  of  Balti- 
more, embracing  an  edifying  account  of  his  conversion.  Soon 
after,  they  both  returned  to  Rome,  and  so  earnestly  renewed 
their  petition,  that  they  were  at  last  allowed  to  separate.  Mrs. 
Connelly  entered  the  Institute  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  in  1844, 
Mr.  Connelly  received  the  tonsure  in  the  church  of  the  house 
where  his  wife  was.  Two  years  after,  he  was  ordained,  but  in 
vain  solicited  entrance  into  the  Society  of  Jesus.  The  Ladies  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  also  declined  to  receive  the  profession  of  Mrs. 
Connelly.  She  accordingly  left  Rome  and  went  to  England, 
where  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  gave  her  a  house  to  found  an 
educational  establishment.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Connelly  at  the  same 
time  became  the  chaplain  of  the  earl,  and  the  tutor  of  his  adopt- 
ed son.  Ere  long,  however,  the  frequent  interchange  of  letters 
between  the  two  converts  excited  distrust,  and  Mrs.  Connelly,  by 
her  confessor's  advice,  refused  to  continue  it.  Gf  this  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Connelly  complained  bitterly,  and  gradually  relapsing  into 
Protestantism,  applied  to  the  English  tribunals  to  recover  his 
wife.  The  proceedings  which  ensued  created  great  discussion 
in  England  in  1849  and  1850  ;  but  Mrs.  Connelly  always  refused 
to  violate  the  vows  of  religion  which  she  had  pronounced,  not 
merely  with  the  consent,  but  at  the  entreaty  of  her  husband  ; 
and  she  continues  to  lead  an  exemplary  life  at  the  head  of  a  com- 
munity, first  at  Derby,  but  afterwards  transferred  to  Hastings. 
Baffled  ambition  seems  to  have  been  the  unfortunate  cause  of 
Mr.  Connelly's  fall.  Flattered  by  the  welcome  shown  him  at 
Rome,  he  thought  only  of  becoming  a  bishop,  and  even  a  cardi- 
nal ;  and  the  honorable  position  which  the  earl  gave  him  in  his 
family  was  not  sufficient  to  satisfy  Connelly's  vanity.* 

*  U.  S.  Catholic   Magazine,  1842,  p.  409:    1844,  p.  540;   1849,  p.  290  •. 
416,  p.  800. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  261 

The  vigilant  Bisliop  of  Pliiladelphia,  whose  numeroi.s  labors 
we  have  mentioned,  found,  moreover,  time  to  write  and  publish 
several  works  which  enjoy  a  merited  reputation  wherever  the 
Enghsh  language  is  spoken.  His  Dogmatic  and  Moral  Theology 
in  seven  volumes,  is  a  complete  treatise  on  the  sacred  science, 
adapted  to  the  general  wants  of  the  country. 

"  The  appearance  of  so  large  a  work  WTitten  in  good  Latin, 
and  intended  really  for  use,  was  a  source  of  wonder  to  the  Prot- 
estant public  and  clergy,  few  of  whom  could  even  read  it  with- 
out some  difficulty,  and  none,  perhaps,  with  ease.  Considered  in 
a  literary  point  of  view,  it  marks  the  classic  character  of  our 
writers,  a  familiarity  with  Roman  literature,  which  is  unequalled 
in  the  country.  The  canons  and  decrees  of  the  Councils  held 
at  Baltimore,  which  England's  first  Orientalist,  Cardinal  Wise- 
man, ranks  with  those  of  Milan,  display  an  equally  correct  taste. 
Even  in  the  backwoods,  with  rough  work  and  rough  men,  Badin, 
the  first  priest  ordained  in  our  land,  sings  in  Latin  verse  the 
praises  of  the  Trinity."* 

The  Church,  by  preserving  Latin  as  the  Liturgical  language, 
saved  that  noble  language  from  oblivion,  and  through  it  saved 
the  Greek ;  and  Protestantism,  w^ith  its  love  for  the  vernacular, 
devoted  the  highest  classes  of  society  to  ignorance  of  the  authors 
of  ancient  Rome.  A  few  years  since,  the  United  States  regard- 
ed as  a  wonder  a  Latin  life  of  Washington,  and  vaunted  it  be- 
yond all  conception  by  the  thousand-tongued  press.  There  is 
not  a  Catholic  country  curate  that  could  not  have  done  as  much ; 
and  yet  public  opinion  in  America  will  long  preserve  the  preju- 
dice that  ignorance  is  the  necessary  condition  of  Catholics.     In 


*  Catholic  Literature  in  the  United  States,  Metropolitan  Magazine,  i.  74. 
The  title  of  the  poem  of  the  venerable  Mr,  Badiu  is,  "  Sanctissiuiae  Trini- 
tatis  Laudes,  et  invocatio  ;  Carmen  ;  auctore  Stephano  Theodore  Badin, 
Protosacerdote  Baltimorensi,  probante,"  &c.  Ludovicivillae,  typus,  E.  J. 
Webb. 


262  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  United  States,  an  author  need  only  be  suspected  of  not  be- 
ing a  Protestant,  for  his  work  to  be  prejudged  and  precondemn- 
ed;  and  it  is  the  same  in  England.  Yet  Americans  should 
remember  that  the  Cathohc  clergy  of  Canada  taught  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Mohawks  to  read  and  write  within  twenty  miles  of 
Albany,  at  a  time  when  there  was  not  a  Latin  school  in  the 
whole  colony  of  New  York.  Quebec  had  a  college  before  New 
England  could  boast  of  one  ;  and  so  completely  was  the  idea  of 
Catholicity  then  blended  with  that  of  classical  studies,  that  in  1685, 
when  a  Latin  school  was  opened  at  New  York,  the  master  was 
ipso  facto  suspected  of  being  a  Jesuit.* 

Bishop  Kenrick  also  wrote  the  "  Primacy  of  the  Apostolic 
See,"  one  of  the  most  remarkable  works  issued  in  America. 
The  book  first  appeared  in  several  letters,  or  parts,  as  a  refuta- 
tion of  the  attacks  on  the  Papacy  made  by  the  Right  Rev.  John 
H.  Hopkins,  Protestant  Bishop  of  Vermont.  These  letters  were 
first  published  in  1842  and  1843  ;  but  the  eminent  author  sub- 
sequently recast  the  w^hole  work,  dropping  the  aggressive  and 
familiar  tone  of  controversy,  and  in  its  new  form  it  has  passed 
through  several  editions  in  America,  and  been  even  translated 
into  German.  The  learned  prelate  has  also  composed  treatises 
on  Baptism  and  Justification  ;  and  his  old  antagonist.  Dr.  Hop- 
kins, having  published  "The  End  of  Controversy  Controverted," 
Archbishop  Kenrick,  in  1855,  replied  in  his  "Vindication  of  the 
Catholic  Church,"  a  series  of  letters  addressed  to  the  Bishop  ol 
Vermont. 

On  the  death  of  the  Most  Rev.  Samuel  Eccleston,  fifth  Arch- 
bishop of  Baltimore,  the  distinguished  merit  of  Bishop  Kenrick 
marked  him  as  the  fittest  to  occupy  the  Metropolitan  See,  and 
he  was  in  fact  called  to  that  dignity  by  bull  of  August  3,  1851. 
His  successor  at  Philadelphia  is  the  Right  Rev.  John  Nepomucen 

*  Canada  and  her  Historians.     Metropolitan  Magazine,  i.  148. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  2G3 

Nomnann,  of  the  Order  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer,  a  native  of 
the  Austrian  States.  At  the  time  of  bis  election,  tlie  new  prelate 
was  rector  of  the  Redemptorist  house  at  Baltimore  :  he  was 
consecrated  on  the  28th  of  March,  1852. 

Bishop  Neumann  devoted  himself  especially  to  the  develop- 
ment of  Catholic  schools,  and,  instead  of  the  two  parochial 
schools  he  found,  left,  at  his  death,  nearly  one  hundred  in 
Philadelphia  alone.  In  1854  he  repaired  to  Rome  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  definition  of  the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, and,  while  in  Europe,  visited  his  native  place,  Srachatic  in 
Bohemia,  where  he  was  received  in  triumph. 

On  his  return  he  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  good  of 
his  people.  In  his  eight  years'  episcopate  he  increased  his 
piiests  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-two ;  encour- 
aged the  erection  of  new  churches,  advanced  the  Cathedral, 
erected  a  temporary  chapel  to  be  used  afterwards  as  a  school, 
and  increased  all  the  literary  and  benevolent  institutions,  of  his 
diocese. 

This  most  learned,  humble,  and  pious  bishop  died  suddenly, 
January  5,  1860,  in  the  street,  while  returning  from  some 
diocesan  business.  Feeling  the  stroke  of  death  he  sat  down  on 
the  steps  of  a  house,  and  immediately  fell  over  and  expired.  He 
was  born  in  Bohemia,  March  20,  1811 ;  and  left  his  seminary 
to  come  to  New  York,  where  he  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Du 
Bois,  in  183G.  After  being  on  the  mission  in  Western  New 
Yoik  he  joined  the  Redemptorists,  and  had  been  a  most  suc- 
cessful missionary. 

Some  years  before  his  death  Bishop  Neumann  felt  the  need 
of  assistance,  and  the  Holy  See  gave  him  as  coadjutor  the  Rt. 
Rev.  James  Frederick  Wood,  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  who, 
while  holding  a  high  financial  position,  received  the  gift  of  faith, 
and  renounced  worldly  position  and  all  its  associations  to  devote 
his  life  to  the  ministry  in  the  Church  of  God.     He  was  conse- 


2G4  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

crated  Bishop  of  Antigonia,  April  2G,  1857,  and  became  Bishop 
of  l^hiladclphia  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Neumann. 

In  1862,  he  obtained  special  indulgences  for  St.  Patrick's  Day, 
to  induce  the  faithful  to  sanctify  the  feast  of  that  great  apostle, 
by  approaching  the  sacraments,  and  avoiding  the  dissipation  so 
prevalent  on  that  occasion. 

In  1868  the  Holy  See  divided  the  diocese  of  Philadelpliia, 
establishing  a  new  see  at  Scranton,  and  another  at  Harrisburg  ; 
and,  on  the  12th  of  February,  1875,  erected  Philadelphia  into 
an  Archiepiscopal  See.  Philadelphia  thus  became  the  Metro- 
politan of  a  province,  having  as  suffragans  the  Bishops  of 
Allegheny,  Erie,  Harrisburg,  Pittsburg,  and  Scranton. 

Though  thus  reduced  in  extent,  the  Diocese  of  Philadelphia, 
in  1878,  contained  126  churches  and  48  chapels,  attended  by 
186  priests,  and  a  Catholic  population  of  250,000  ;  it  had  a  fine 
seminary  dedicated  to  St.  Charles  Borromeo,  with  46  priests  in 
the  direction  of  that  and  other  religious  work  ;  3  colleges, 
many  academies,  parochial  schools,  and  asylums. 

When  the  Diocese  of  Scranton  was  established,  March  3, 
1868,  the  mitre  was  conferred  on  the  Rt.  Rev.  William  O'Hara, 
who  was  consecrated  July  12,  1868. 

He  devoted  himself  zealously  to  increase  the  facilities  and 
external  means  of  grace  for  his  scattered  flock,  his  diocese  con- 
taining no  large  cities,  but  mainly  a  rural  and  mining  }X)pulation. 
Secret  societies  were  the  great  bane,  and  led  many  into  disobe- 
dience to  the  rules  of  the  Church,  and  the  consequent  neglect 
of  their  Christian  duties,  until  they  became  a  scourge  of  the 
Commonwealth.  Never,  perhaps,  has  there  been  a  clearer  proof 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  Church,  or  more  convincing  evidence  that 
her  rules  lead  to  the  well-being  of  a  country. 

In  less  than  ten  years  he  increased  (by  1878)  his  priests  from 
28.  to  59;  churches  from  50  to  71;  introduced  the  Sisters  of 
Mercy,  and  the  German  Sisters  of  Christian  Charity,  founded 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  205 

by  Pniilinc  von  Mallinkrodt,  wlio  had  been  expelled  from  Ger- 
many by  the  new  Emperor,  in  liis  war  on  the  Church,  and  his 
slavery  to  the  infidel  faction  ^\•hich  twice  attempted  his  life. 
The  progress  of  education  is  remarkable,  as  is  seen  in  the  in- 
crease of  academies  and  parochial  schools. 

To  the  See  of  Ilarrisburg  the  Holy  Father  raised  the  Rt. 
Rev.  J.  F.  Shanahan,  whose  diocese,  though  extensive,  con- 
tained a  very  small  Catholic  population,  and  requiring  many 
churches  in  different  parts  ;  he  too,  in  ten  years,  doubled  the 
number  of  priests,  and  greatly  increased  the  number  of  his 
churches  and  stations,  and  parochial  schools. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

PENNSYLVANIA (1750-1840.) 


Diocese  of  Pittsburg— The  Recollects  at  Fort  Duquesne— The  Eev.  Father  Braoem— 
Sketch  of  Prince  Demetrius  Gallitzin. 

We  have  stated  ah-eady  that  the  Holy  See  in  1843  yielded  to 
the  request  of  the  Fifth  Council  of  Baltimore,  by  forming  the 
western  part  of  Pennsylvania  into  a  distinct  diocese  from  that  of 
Philadelphia.  On  the  Vth  of  August,  1843,  the  Very  Rev. 
Michael  O'Connor  was  called  to  the  new  See  of  Pittsburg,  and 
that  prelate  being  in  Rome  at  the  time  received  consecration  in 
the  Holy  City,  on  the  feast  of  the  Assumption.  Bishop  O'Con- 
nor, born  in  Ireland,  on  the  27th  of  September,  1810,  was 
ordained  at  Rome  in  the  year  1833,  devoted  himself  to  the 
American  missions  in  1838,  and  after  serving  several  parishes  in 
the  interior  of  Pennsylvania,  was  successively  professor  in  the 
seminary,   pastor   at  Pittsburg,  and  Vicar-general  of   the  dio- 

12 


266  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

cese,  displaying  n  all  these  functions  a  zeal  and  talents  which 
soon  marked  him  for  the  episcopacy. 

The  Jesuit  missionaries  of  Maryland  did  not  extend  the  circle 
of  their  apostleship  to  that  part  of  Pennsylvania  now  comprised 
in  the  Sees  of  Pittslmrg  and  Erie.  Colonization,  which  always 
began  by  the  belt  of  laud  lying  nearest  to  the  ocean,  had  not  yet 
penetrated  so  far,  and  the  Indians  inhabited  the  forests  undis- 
turbed by  the  clearings  of  the  white  man.  So  little  was  it 
known  that  even  in  1750  it  was  not  settled  whether  the  Ohio 
began  in  Pennsylvania  or  in  Virginia.  Down  almost  to  the 
close  of  the  last  century  the  missionaries  penetrated  no  further 
w^est  than  Conewago ;  but  the  new  emigrants  gradually  striking 
inland,  crossed  the  Alleghanies,  and  as  they  bore  civihzation  to 
the  fertile  valley  of  the  Ohio,  priests  came  that  Catholics  might 
not  be  destitute  of  all  religious  aid.  In  the  year  1798,  the  Rev. 
Theodore  Brauers,  a  Dutch  Franciscan,  settled  at  Youngstown, 
where  he  bought  a  farm  and  built  a  chapel.  This  village  is  not 
far  from  Pittsburg,  and  it  was  then  the  only  spot  where  the 
Holy  Sacrifice  was  oflfered  for  the  salvation  of  men  in  the  vast 
territory  which  was  erected  in  1843  into  the  diocese  of  Pitts- 
burg. From  Lake  Erie  to  Conewago,  from  the  first  hills  of  the 
Alleghany  to  the  Ohio,  there  existed  no  church,  no  priest,  ex- 
cept the  humble  oratory  of  Father  Brauers ;  and  now  the  district 
forms  two  dioceses,  where  a  population  of  60,000  CathoHcs 
receive  the  care  of  eighty  priests,  in  ninety  churches.  The  Right 
Rev.  Doctor  O'Connor  assures  us  that  he  has  been  told  by  one  of 
the  oldest  inhabitants,  that  the  first  Catholics  in  that  part  of 
Pennsylvania  came  from  Gosheuhoppen,  and  that  the  missionary 
who  served  that  parish  promised  that  they  should  be  visited  in 
the  new  settlement  by  another  priest.  It  was  in  fulfilment  of 
this  promise  that  Father  Brauers  settled  at  Youngstown.  His 
death  gave  rise  to  a  curious  lawsuit,  in  which  the  Pennsylvania 
judges  showed   themselves   the   enlightened   protectors  of  the 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  267 

rights  of  the  Church  ;  and  such  a  spirit  of  justice  is  more  de- 
serving of  mention,  as  it  is  not  always  found  in  the  law  courts  of 
tlie  United  States.  By  his  will,  dated  at  Greensburg,  West- 
moreland county,  October  24,  1789,  Father  Theodore  Brauers 
had  left  his  property  to  his  successor,  on  condition  of  his  saying 
masses  for  the  repose  of  his  soul.  A  wandering  priest  named 
Francis  Fromm,  took  possession  of  the  parsonage  and  church  ;  and 
as  he  said  the  masses,  claimed  the  property  against  the  lawful 
priest  sent  by  the  Bishop.  Father  Brauers'  executors  had 
recourse  to  law,  and  the  judge  decided  that  a  Catholic  priest 
must  be  sent  by  his  Bishop,  although  he  expressed  his  astonish- 
ment that  a  man  of  Father  Brauers'  good  sense  should  order 
masses  to  be  said  for  the  repose  of  his  soul.*  The  first  talent  in 
Pennsylvania  was  employed  in  the  suit,  in  which  Judges  Bald- 
win and  Breckenridge  both  spoke.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Fromm  proved 
that  he  was  a  regular  priest,  and  exhibited  the  certificate  of  the 
Bishop  of  Mentz,  as  well  as  the  consent  of  Father  Brauers'  con- 
gregation. These  considerations  might  have  influenced  the 
judges;  but  their  decision  upheld  the  Bishop,  and  this  case  has 
been  repeatedly  cited  as  an  authority  in  cases  of  a  similar  nature. 
Father  Brauers  was  not  the  first  priest,  nor  even  the  first 
Franciscan,  who  off'ered  the  Sacred  Victim  on  the  soil  of  Western 
Pennsylvania;  and  as  early  as  11 55,  that  is,  just  a  century 
since,  we  find  French  Recollects  attached  as  chaplains  to  the 
French  forts  on  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  That  part  of  Pennsyl- 
vania was  then  claimed  by  France,  and  in  fact  the  whole  valley 
of  the  Ohio  is  comprised  in  the  Letters  Patent  of  Louisiana,  in 
1*712.  The  actual  taking  of  possession  is  not  more  undoubted 
than  the  discovery,  and  the  Canadians  had  launched  their  canoes 
on  the  Beautiful  River  years  before  the  Pennsylvania  settlers 
knew  of  its  existence.     To  unite  the  establishments  on  the  St. 

*  Executors  of  Brauers  against  Fromm.     Add.  Pennsylvania  Reports,  page 
362.    Father  Brauers'  name  is  in  the  Bible  of  1790. 


268  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Lawrence  with  those  on  the  Mississippi,  France  first  reared  a 
line  of  defences  along  the  lakes,  the  Wabash  and  Illinois ;  but  the 
Ohio  valley  had  been  left  exposed  to  the  enterprise  of  the  English 
colonies.  To  close  it,  the  governors  of  Canada,  in  1V53  and 
1*754,  built  between  Lake  Erie  on  the  Ohio,  Fort  Presqu'ile,  now 
the  city  of  Erie,  Fort  Leboeuf,  or  "  de  la  Riviere  aux  Boeufs,"  at 
Waterford,  the  post  of  Venango,  Fort  Machault,  and  where 
Pittsburg  now  stands,  the  celebrated  Fort  Duquesne.*  For 
four  years  the  French  valiantly  defended  these  posts  against  far 
superior  forces,  and  Washington  made  his  first  campaign  near 
Fort  Duquesne  against  his  future  allies.  At  the  close  of  1Y58, 
however,  the  garrison  fired  the  fort  and  retired,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  the  other  forts  were  similarly  abandoned.  Although 
these  forts  had  trifling  garrisons,  not  exceeding,  in  general,  two 
hundred  men,  they  had  a  regular  chaplain,  a  proof  how  impor- 
tant a  place  religion  held  in  the  ancient  organization  of  France ; 
and  in  the  Registre  des  Postes  du  Roi,  still  preserved  at  Montreal, 
is  the  record  of  the  burials  and  baptisms  at  Fort  Duquesne  from 
1Y54  to  1156. 


*  Earthworks  of  considerable  extent  are  still  pointed  out  near  Erie  as  the 
ruins  of  the  French  fort.  Fourteen  miles  southeast  of  Erie,  Waterford  vil- 
lage lies  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Leboeuf,  at  the  spot  where  Fort  Leboeuf 
stood,  and  where  its  ruins  are  still  to  be  seen.  The  stream  running  from  the 
lake  is  still  called  Leboeuf  creek,  and  empties  into  French  creek,  which  pours 
its  waters  into  the  Alleghany.  Franklin  village,  the  county  town  of  Venango, 
is  at  the  confluence  of  French  creek  and  the  Alleghany.  Traces  of  the 
French  intrenchments  are  still  to  be  seen.  The  one  on  the  right  was  Fort 
Machault ;  that  on  the  left  Venango.  About  1804  a  small  silver  chalice  was 
dug  up  at  Waterford,  near  the  ruins  of  the  French  fort,  and  was  purchased 
by  a  pious  Catholic  lady,  Mrs.  Vankirk,  to  save  it  from  profanation.  We 
owe  these  interesting  details  as  to  the  position  of  the  old  French  forts  to  the 
kindness  of  the  Eight  Rev.  J.  M.  Young,  Bishop  of  Erie,  to  whom  we  ex- 
press our  acknowledgment.  Sargent,  in  \\\-i  History  of  Braddock'' s  Expedition, 
confirms  it,  and  states  that  the  ruins  of  Fort  Venango  cover  a  space  of  400 
feet  square.  The  ramparts  are  eight  feet  high.  All  these  posts  are  accu- 
rately laid  down  in  an  excellent  sketch  of  Canadiar  history  by  Dussieux, 
published  at  Paris  in  1855. 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  2C9 

By  this  vrc  loarn  tliat  Fatlier  Denis  Baron,  Recollect,  was  at 
tliat  time  chaplain  at  Fort  Duquesne ;  and  on  the  30th  of  July, 
1755,  an  entry  of  a  burial,  is  signed  by  Father  Luke  Collet, 
chaplain  of  the  King  at  Forts  Presqu'ile  and  Riviere  aux  Bocufs. 
This  Franciscan  was  merely  on  a  visit  at  Fort  Duquesne,  as  he 
officiated  in  the  presence  of  the  regular  chaplain,  Father  Baron. 
The  latter  was  born  at  Pontarlier  in  Franche  Comte,  and  arrived 
at  Quebec  in  1740.  He  was  probably  a  deacon  at  the  time,  for 
the  register  of  ordinations  at  Quebec  mentions  him  as  ordained 
priest  there  on  the  23d  of  September,  11  il.  Father  Denis 
Baron  was  sent  successively  to  Three  Rivers,  Montreal,  Niagara, 
Cape  Breton,  and  to  Acadia.  We  find  him  then  chaplain  at 
Fort  Duquesne,  Fort  St.  John,  Fort  St.  Frederic  or  Crown 
Point,  and  the  register  of  this  last  post  shows  that  he  died  and 
was  buried  there  on  the  6th  of  November,  1758.* 

Father  Luke  Collet,  a  Canadian  by  birth,  was  ordained  at 
Quebec  on  the  24th  of  February,  1753,  and  after  remaining  in 
his  convent  till  1754,  was  sent  to  the  forts  in  the  valley  of  the 
Ohio.f     These  Fathers  belonged  to  the  reform  of  the  Franciscan 


*  In  his  biographical  notices  of  the  Canadian  clergy,  the  late  Mr.  Nois- 
eux,  Vicar-general  of  Quebec,  says  that  Father  Denis  Baron  died  in  Acadia 
at  the  close  of  September,  1755,  while  tlie  register  of  the  Fort  St.  Frederio 
states  officially  that  he  died  in  November,  1758.  This  single  fact  shows  how 
careful  writers  sliould  be  in  adopting  the  statements  of  Mr.  Noiseux,  wliich 
he  never  intended  should  be  made  public,  and  was  prevented  by  death  from 
correcting.  Unfortunately  they  were  after  his  death  put  forward  as  extreme- 
ly accurate,  and  have  led  to  many  errors. 

t  Father  Collet  is  placed  by  Mr.  Noiseux  at  Chaleur  Bay  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  we  find  him  at  Fort  Duquesne.  The  biographer  adds  that  he 
was  taken  there  by  the  English  in  1760  and  carried  to  England.  On  being 
set  at  liberty  in  November,  1760,  he  passed  over  to  France  and  never  return- 
ed to  Canada.  What  truth  there  may  be  in  tliis  we  know  not,  but  he  Avas 
certainly  in  Illinois.  We  are  indebted  for  extracts  from  the  Kegisters  to  our 
venerable  friend,  the  Hon.  Jacques  Viger,  first  Mayor  of  Montreal,  Chevalier 
of  the  order  of  St.  Gregory,  whose  accuracy  is  proverbial  in  Canada,  and  to 
whose  aid  we  have  frequently  had  recourse,  and  as  we  gratefully  ackuow- 
lodge,  not  in  vain. 


270  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

order  called  Recollects,  the  first  of  whom  arrived  in  Canada  in 
1615,  with  Samuel  Champlain.  Sent  back  to  France  in  1629 
on  the  capture  of  Quebec  by  the  English,  they  returned  only  in 
1670,  and  from  that  time  never  left  Canada;  but  as  the  English 
.government  seized  their  property  and  prevented  their  receiving 
novices,  their  order  is  now  extinct  in  that  province,  the  last  sur- 
vivor, a  lay  brother,  having  died  a  few  years  ago.* 

It  may  easily  be  imagined  that  amid  the  privations  of  a  fron- 
tier post,  and  the  vicissitudes  of  war,  the  Recollects  of  Fort  Du- 
quesne  and  Fort  Machault,  could  make  no  effort  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  Indians  by  whom  they  were  surrounded :  Dela- 
waa-es^  among  whom  the  Moravians  were  beginning  to  toil,  Sene- 
cas,  whom  the  Jesuits  had  so  long  taught ;  if  they  ministered  to 
any  it  was  to  the  wandering  Catholic  Huron  from  Sandusky,  or 
Miami  from  St.  Joseph's,  the  men  whom  Beaujeu  led  to  victory 
over  the  disciplined  troops  of  Braddock.  Their  functions  were 
those  of  military  chaplains :  and  when  they  disappeared  with  the 
regiments  of  France,  thirty  years  rolled  by  without  the  cross  re- 
appearing in  Western  Pennsylvania;  but  in  1799  a  young  priest 
took  up  his  abode  among  the  most  rugged  summits  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies ;  there  he  built  churches,  founded  villages,  attracted  a 
Catholic  population,  by  advantageous  grants  of  land,  and  the 
superior  spiritual  advantages  enjoyed  at  Loretto ;  and  after  an 
apostolic  career  of  forty-one  years,  after  expending  $150,000  of 
his  fortune  in  this  admirable  work,  he  died,  leaving  ten  thousand 
Catholics  in  the  mountains,  where  he  had  found  only  twelve 
families.  This  holy  priest,  who  in  his  humility  called  himself 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  deserves  to  be  known  by  his  true  name,  and 


*  The  Friars  Minors  of  the  Strict  Observance,  called  in  France  Recollects, 
are  a  reform  of  the  Franciscans.  It  began  in  Spain  in  1584,  and  their  first 
establishment  in  Paris  dates  from  1605.  Henry  IV.,  Louis  XIII.,  and  Louis 
XIV.  greatly  favored  these  zealous  religious.  Helyot^  Histoire  des  Ordres 
religieux  (Ed.  Migne)  iii.  .332. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  2T1 

we  do  not  hesitate  to  relate  at  some  leiigih  his  history,  one  of  the 
most  edifying  which  the  Church  in  the  United  States  presents. 
Demetrius  Augustine  GalHtzin  was  born  at  the  Hague,  on  the 
22d  of  December,  lYYO.  His  fether  was  then  Russian  ambassa- 
dor in  Hohand,  and  before  being  intrusted  with  that  embassy, 
had  been  in  the  same  capacity  in  Paris,  where,  during  his  long 
stay,  he  had  become  intimately  connected  with  Voltaire  and 
Diderot,  whose  perfidious  praises  flattered  the  vanity  of  the  Rus- 
sian prince.  At  a  later  date  we  find  him  a  correspondent  of  Vol- 
taire, and  in  many  of  his  letters  the  philosopher  praises  the  Mus- 
covite noble  for  his  devotedness  to  science,  and  above  all  for  his 
spirit  of  toleration.  This  was  the  period  when  Voltaire,  as  bad  a 
Frenchman  as  he  was  a  man,  wrote  to  the  empress  that  he 
regretted  that  he  was  not  a  Russian.  The  mother  of  our  mis- 
sionary, Amelia,  Countess  of  Schmettau,  Princess  Gallitzin,  be- 
longed to  a  great  German  family.  She  was  daughter  of  Countess 
Rufi'ert  and  of  one  of  Frederick  the  Great's  favorites,  Marshal 
Count  Schmettau.  She  had  two  brothers,  distinguished  in  the 
Prussian  army,  one  of  them  having  been  killed  at  the  battle  of 
Jena.  The  Princess  Amelia  was  brought  up  a  Catholic,  and  in 
early  childhood  showed  much  piety,  but  at  the  age  of  nine,  as 
she  herself  said,  was  diverted  from  devotion  by  the  charms  of 
flattery.  She  then  fell  into  the  hands  of  an  infidel  tutor,  who 
made  it  a  point  to  extinguish  the  faith  in  the  heart  of  his  pupil, 
and  her  marriao-e  with  Prince  Gallitzin  tended  still  more  to 
plunge  her  into  incredulity.  Diderot,  at  Paris,  encfeavored  to 
dazzle  her  by  the  sophisms  of  his  system  of  atheism ;  but  the 
perusal  of  infidel  works  only  excited  disquiet  as  to  the  state  of 
her  conscience,  and  soon  after  the  birth  of  her  son,  she  resolved 
to  retire  to  Muuster  and  live  in  solitude  and  reflection.  In  1783 
God,  in  His  mercy,  sent  her  a  serious  illness.  Visited  by  the 
holy  priest,  Bernard  Overberg,  she  would  not,  fi'om  human  pilde, 
seem  to  fear  death,  but  promised,  in  case  she  recovered  her  health. 


272  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

to  study  Christianity  seriously.  On  her  recovery  she  kept  her 
word.  She  was  under  instruction  three  years,  and  at  last,  on  the 
28th  of  August,  11 86,  made  her  first  communion.  Directed  in 
the  ways  of  piety  by  the  Abbot  of  Furstenberg,  and  by  Father 
Overberg,  she  spent  the  rest  of  her  days  in  prayer,  in  struggles 
against  self-will,  and  in  regret  over  her  past  life.* 

Her  son,  young  Demetrius,  was  carefully  brought  up  aloof 
from  every  religious  idea.  The  prince  surrounded  him  with 
infidel  philosophers,  and  watched  with  argus  eyes  lest  any  priest 
Dr  minister  should  approach  the  future  heir  of  his  titles  and  for- 
tune. He  learned  all  but  what  it  was  essential  to  know,  and  it 
would  naturally  be  expected  that  a  young  man  of  accomplished 
education  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  would  seek  only  to  rush 
madly  on  the  paths  of  honors  and  pleasure.  But  all  the  father's 
precautions  could  not  exclude  grace  from  on  hi*gh ;  and  Prince 
Gallitzin  thus  recounts  his  astonishing  conversion: 

"  I  lived  during  fifteen  years  in  a  Catholic  country,  under  a 
Catholic  government,  where  both  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
power  were  united  in  the  same  person — the  reigning  prince  in 
that  country  was  our  archbishop.  During  a  great  part  of  that 
time  I  was  not  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church ;  an  intimacy 
which  existed  between  our  family  and  a  certain  French  philoso- 
pher, had  produced  contempt  for  revealed  rehgion.  Raised  in 
prejudices  against  revelation,  I  felt  every  disposition  to  ridicule 
those  very  principles  and  practices  which  I  have  adopted  since. 
Particular  care,  too,  was  taken  not  to  permit  any  clergyman  to 
come  near  me.  Thanks  be  to  the  God  of  infinite  mercy,  the 
clouds  of  infidelity  were  dispersed,  and  revelation  adopted  in  our 
family.  I  soon  felt  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  investigating 
the  different  religious  systems,  in  order  to  find  the  true  one. 
Although  I  was  born  a  member  of  the  Greek  Church,  and  al- 

*  Her  life  has  been  written  by  Katerkamp. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  273 

^hougli  all  my  male  relations,  without  any  exception,  were  either 
Greeks  or  Protestants,  yet  did  I  resolve  to  embrace  that  religion 
only  which  upon  impartial  inquiry  should  appear  to  me  to  be 
the  pure  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  My  choice  fell  upon  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  at  the  age  of  about  seventeen  I  became  a 
member  of  that  Church."* 

This  conversion  did  not  at  first  divert  young  Demetrius  from 
the  military  career  which  his  father  wished  him  to  embrace.  In 
1792  he  was  aid-de-camp  to  the  Austrian  general.  Van  Lilien, 
who  commanded  an  army  in  Brabant,  at  the  opening  of  the  first 
campaign  against  France.  But  the  sudden  death  of  the  Emperor 
Leopold,  and  the  assassination  of  the  King  of  Sweden,  an  act 
considered  as  the  work  of  the  Jacobins,  induced  Austria  and 
Prussia  to  dismiss  all  foreigners  from  their  armies.  The  young 
prince  being  thus  deprived  of  his  military  position,  his  father 
advised  him  to  travel  to  finish  his  education,  and  he  arrived  in 
the  United  States  in  1792,  accompanied  by  a  young  German 
missionary,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brosius,  his  tutor.  At  the  sight  of  the 
spiritual  destitution  which  the  Catholics  in  America  suffered,  he 
felt  a  vocation  to  the  ecclesiastical  state,  and  on  the  5th  of  No- 
vember, 1792  entered  the  Sulpitian  Seminary  recently  founded  at 
Baltimore.  Under  the  direction  of  those  excellent  professors,  the 
abbes  Nagot,  Garnier,  and  Tessier,  Gallitzin  made  rapid  progress 
in  piety  and  ecclesiastical  learning,  and  on  the  18th  of  March, 
1795,  received  the  priesthood  at  the  hands  of  the  venerable 
Bishop  Carroll. 

He  was  the  second  priest  ordained  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  first  who  received  all  orders  in  this  country.     For  the  first 

*  Discourse  on  the  life  and  virtues  of  the  Kev.  Demetrius  Augustine  Gal- 
litzin. Loretto,  1848.  The  eloquent  autlior  kindly  sent  us  his  discourse, 
adding  extensive  notes,  from  which  chiefly  we  have  drawn  the  edifying 
tales  as  to  the  noble  Russian  prince,  become  an  humble  miui?ter  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  sketch  of  Gallitzin,  by  the  Kev.  C.  C.  Tiee,  D.D.,  has  also  becu 
of  great  service.     It  appeared  in  the  Biographicid  Annual,  1841. 

13* 


274  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Bishop  of  Baltimore  lie  ever  preserved  the  most  lively  admiration 
and  most  tender  affection  :  "  The  nearer  we  approach  Archbishop 
Carroll  in  om*  pastoral  conduct,"  he  used  to  say,  "  the  nearer  we 
approach  perfection." 

The  young  priest  w^ould  have  preferred  not  to  leave  his  holy 
and  studious  retreat,  the  Seminary  of  Baltimore,  and  with  this 
object  obtained  admission  among  the  members  of  the  congrega- 
tion of  St.  Sulpice.  But  Bishop  Carroll,  though  he  granted  him 
the  necessary  permission,  could  not  dispense  with  the  Rev.  Mi. 
Gallitzin's  services  in  the  labors  of  the  mission,  and  the  latter 
soon  seeing  that  his  new  duties  were  incompatible  with  those  of 
a  Sulpitian,  separated  with  regret  from  a  society  for  which  he 
ever  professed  the  deepest  veneration.  The  first  mission  assigned 
to  him  was  that  of  Conewago,  where  there  existed  already  a 
flourishing  church  under  Father  Pellentz.  From  this  central 
point  the  Rev.  Mr.  Galhtzin  served  towns  and  cities  to  a  consid- 
erable distance  :  Taneytown,  Pipe  Creek,  Hagerstown,  and  Cum- 
berland in  Maryland;  Chambersburg,  Path  and  Shade  Valley, 
Huntington  and  the  Alleghany  mountains  in  Pennsylvania.  But 
experience  ere  long  convinced  him  that  he  would  realize  more 
good  by  concentrating  his  efforts  on  a  spot  where  he  could 
establish  a  Catholic  colony,  and  he  selected  for  his  domain  the 
uninhabited  and  uncultivated  regions  of  the  Alleghanies,  where  he 
settled  permanently  in  1799.  He  found  in  the  mountains  only  a 
dozen  Catholics  scattered  here  and  there  amid  the  rocks  and 
woods.  He  first  resided  on  a  fai-m  which  the  Maguire  family 
had  generously  given  for  the  service  of  the  Church.  There  he 
built  a  log  chapel,  thiity  feet  long,  which  long  sufiiced  for  the 
few  Catholics  of  that  part.  In  order  to  attract  emigration  around 
him  he  bought  vast  tracts  of  land,  which  he  sold  in  farms  at  a 
low  rate,  or  even  gave  to  the  poor,  relying  on  his  patrimony  to 
meet  his  many  engagements.  But  the  Emperor  of  Russia  could 
not  pardon  the  son  of  Prince  Alexander  Gallitzin  for  becoming  a 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  275 

Catholic  priest,  and  iu  1808  the  noble  missionary  received  from 
a  friend  in  Europe  a  letter,  saying : 

"  The  question  of  yonr  rights  and  those  of  the  princess,  your 
sister,  as  to  your  father's  property  in  Russia  has  been  examined 
by  the  Senate  of  St.  Petersburg,  and  it  has  been  decided  that  by 
reason  of  your  Catholic  fiiith,  and  your  ecclesiastical  profession, 
you  cannot  be  admitted  to  a  share  of  your  late  father's  property. 
Your  sister  is  consequently  sole  heiress  of  the  property,  and  is 
soon  to  be  put  in  possession  of  it.  The  Council  of  State  has  con- 
firmed the  decision  of  the  Senate,  and  the  emperor  by  his  sanc- 
tion has  given  it  force  of  law." 

The  Princess  Anne  Gallitzin,  long  promised  her  brother  to 
restore  him  his  share,  to  which  she  acknowledged  that  she  had  no 
lawful  right ;  she  even  sent  on  various  occasions  large  sums  to 
the  missionary,  who  employed  them  in  meeting  his  engagements 
and  in  relieving  the  poor.  But  in  the  whole  it  amounted  to  but 
a  small  part  of  the  revenues  to  which  he  was  entitled,  and  when 
the  princess  married  a  Prince  of  Salm,  she  said  no  more  about 
restituting.  The  missionary  thus  lost  all  his  patrimony,  but 
offered  the  sacrifice  to  God  with  the  most  perfect  resignation ;  if 
he  regretted  the  wealth,  it  was  only  for  the  poor  and  for  the 
Church,  not  for  himself.  As  his  panegyrist  has  well  said,  "  if  he 
had  had  a  heart  of  gold  he  would  have  given  it  to  the  unfortu- 
nate." The  Rev.  Demetrius  Gallitzin  was  therefore  not  only  the 
zealous  pastor  of  his  flock,  he  was  also  its  father  and  benefactor, 
and  never  consented  to  leave  it.  Imposing  on  himself  a  thou- 
sand austerities,  lodged  in  an  humble  cabin,  dressed  ij  coarse 
clothes,  incessantly  travelling  from  point  to  point  to  bear  the 
consolations  of  religion  tlirough  the  mountains.  Father  Gallitzin 
found  time  also  to  study,  and  successively  composed  several  con- 
troversial works;  "Defence  of  Catholic  Principles,"  a  "Letter  to 
a  Protestant  Friend,"  and  an  "Appeal  to  the  Protestant  Public," 
in  reply  to  a  Protestant  minister  of  Huntington,  who  had  pas* 


276  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

sionately  assailed  liim  in  his  pulpit.  These  little  works,  of  great 
dialectic  skill,  continue  to  be  printed  and  circulated  in  America, 
and  have  been  frequently  reprinted  in  England,  Ireland,  every- 
"vvhcre  producing  great  good,  in  converting  Protestants  or  con- 
firming Catholics  in  the^aith. 

Amid  these  apostolic  labors,  and  just  after  excessive  fatigue  in 
hearing  confessions  and  officiating  through  Holy  Week,  the  ven- 
erable Mr.  Gallitzin  died,  on  the  6th  of  May,  1840,  in  Loretto,  a 
village  which  he  had  founded  in  the  mountains.  His  friend, 
the  Very  Rev.  Thomas  Heyden,  whom  we  have  seen  refusing  the 
See  of  Natchez  in  183*7,  received  the  last  sigh  of  the  Pastor  of 
the  Alleghanies,  and  in  the  month  of  September,  1847,  he  pro- 
nounced a  funeral  oration  in  St.  Michael's  Church,  at  the  transla- 
tion of  the  body  of  the  sainted  Prince  Gallitzin  under  the  beauti- 
ful monument  which  the  piety  of  his  parishioners  had  raised  to 
his  memory.^ 

The  renown  of  Prince  Gallitzin's  virtues  and  of  the  wonders 
he  achieved,  spread  far  and  wide,  and  he  was  several  times  spoken 
of  for  the  Episcopacy.  In  the  life  of  Bishop  Flaget,  we  see  that 
in  1825  it  was  resolved  to  erect  a  See  at  Pittsburg,  and  Bishop 
Dubourg  wrote  to  Bishop  Rosati  on  the  28th  of  November : 
"  Should  you  judge  it  opportune  to  ask  the  erection  of  a  See  at 
Pittsburg,  embracing  the  territory  bordering  o!i  the  Alleghany 
and  a  portion  of  Virginia,  I  will  unite  v»^ith  you.  *  *  ^-  I 
would  propose  Prince  Gallitzin  as  first  on  the  list,  and  Mr. 
Maguire  as  second.  I  think  the  first  place  due  to  the  former,  in 
consequence  of  his  long  and  useful  ser\dce,  and  for  the  good  he 
has  eftccted  in  those  quarters,  and  because  he  has  already  a  large 
establishment,  which  would  be  very  useful  to  the  new  bishopric."f 

On  his  side.  Bishop  Kenrick,  then  Coadjutor  of  Philadelphia, 

*  Spalding's  (Bp.)  sketches  of  the  Life,  Times,  and  Character  of  the  Eight 
Kev.  Benedict  J.  Fl-ieret,  p.  250. 
+  Annales  de  la  Propiigation  de  la  Foi,  viii. 


IN   THE   UNITED    STATES.  277 

and  as  such  happy  enough  to  count  Prince  Gallitzin  among  hia 
priests,  wrote  of  him  on  the  14th  of  January,  1834  :  "  Loretto, 
in  Cambria  county,  is  the  residence  of  the  celebrated  missionary. 
Prince  Gallitzin,  and  a  very  numerous  population.  It  is  more 
than  thirty  years  since  that  venerable  man  chose  the  summit  of 
the  Alleghanies  as  his  retreat,  or  rather  as  the  centre  of  his  mis- 
sion ;  thence  he  went  from  time  to  time,  to  bear  the  succors  of 
religion  to  the  Cathohcs  scattered  over  an  immense  territory, 
where  five  priests  are  now  occupied.  The  number  of  the  faithful 
at  his  arrival  was  very  trifling  in  Cambria  county ;  his  persever- 
ance, in  spite  of  all  the  diflSculties  with  which  he  had  to  contend, 
was  crowned  with  heavenly  benedictions.  The  mountains  have 
become  fertile  and  the  forests  flourishing.  Many  Protestants  have 
followed  his  example,  renouncing  the  errors  of  the  sects  in  which 
they  had  been  brought  up ;  and  Catholics  came  from  all  sides  to 
commit  themselves  to  the  paternal  care  of  a  priest  whose  pure 
and  humble  life  excites  them  to  the  exercise  of  the  evangelical 
\4rtues."'^' 

The  Catholics  of  Cambria  still  keep  fresh  the  memory  of  their 
princely  missionary,  and  have  given  the  name  of  Gallitzin  to  a 
village  which  has  already  a  church,  dedicated  to  St.  Patrick. 
They  are  particularly  distinguished  by  their  fjiith  and  patriarchal 
manners ;  and  gave  a  striking  proof  lately  in  the  triumphal  pro- 
cession with  which  they  welcomed  Monseigneur  Bediui,  the  Apos- 
tolic Nuncio.     In  a  letter  which  his  Excellency  addressed  to  us 

*  The  Gallitzin  family  lias  also  had  a  martyr  to  the  Faith.  According  to 
a  family  tradition,  as  stated  by  ISIadame  Gallitzin  to  Bishop  O'Connor,  one  of 
their  ancestors  became  a  Catliolic  in  tiie  time  of  Catliarine  II.,  and  was  pat  to 
death  in  punisliment  for  his  change  of  faith,  by  being  required  to  have  a 
pahice  of  ice  built  on  tlie  Neva,  and  to  go  through  the  form  of  marrying  an 
old  woman.  The  whole  thing  passed  as  a  joke,  but  the  prince  was  taicen  to 
the  bridal  chamber,  where  the  bride  of  the  play,  aided  by  satellites,  held  him 
on  a  bed  of  ice  till  he  ex[>ired.  The  matter  was  then  hushed  up  as  a  joke, 
but  it  was  known  to  have  been  the  design  of  the  empress  to  take  him  ofl", 
yet  deprive  him  'f  the  honor  of  martyrdom. 


278  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

from  Cincinnati,  on  the  29tli  of  September,  1853,  is  tlie  following 
pjissage  :  "  The  papers  will  keep  you  but  imperfectly  informed  of 
my  progress,  and,  especially,  you  can  form  no  idea  of  my  visit  to 
Loretto,  which  presented  the  most  touching  spectacle.  This  vil- 
lage, sanctified  by  the  Apostolate  of  Prince  Demetrius  Gallitzin, 
is  situated  in  the  highest  mountains  of  Pennsylvania,  and  is  in- 
habited exclusively  by  Catholics.  My  carriage  was  preceded  by 
about  five  hundred  persons,  on  horseback,  men  and  women,  and 
followed  by  some  fifty  carriages.  This  peaceful  cortege,  defiling 
joyously  around  these  lofty  mountains,  beneath  a  still  brilliant 
sun,  was  as  solemn  as  touching  for  us  all.  The  fact  is,  that 
everywhere,  and  especially  at  Loretto,  the  joy  of  the  Catholics 
was  unbounded,  and  was  displayed  in  the  liveliest  and  most  edi- 
fying manner.  The  demonstration  could  not  have  been  more 
beautiful  or  more  brilliant,  and  reminded  me  of  the  welcome  I 
received  in  Canada." 

The  father  of  our  holy  missionary  died  at  Brunswick  in  1803, 
still  unreconciled  to  the  idea  of  having  his  son  a  piiest,  and  his 
wife  a  pious  Catholic,  while  he  was  a  disciple  of  Diderot.  He 
embittered  the  last  days  of  the  princess  by  reproaching  her  with 
causing  her  son's  conversion.  She  bore  all  with  Christian  pa- 
tience, and  expired  in  1806,  fortified  with  all  the  consolations  of 
the  dying.  Her  example,  and  that  of  her  son,  doubtless  exer- 
cised a  salutary  influence  on  the  family.  One  of  their  nephews, 
the  young  Prince  Alexander  Gallitzin,  openly  became  a  Catholic 
at  St.  Petersburg,  in  1814,  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  He  was  then  a 
pupil  of  the  Jesuits,  and  this  conversion  excited  so  much  attention 
in  Russia,  and  so  irritated  his  uncle,  then  Minister  of  Worship  to 
the  emperor,  that  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  immediately  banished 
from  Russia.  Another  aunt  of  young  Alexander  became  a 
Catholic  in  Russia,  under  Father  Ronsin,  and  her  daughter, 
Princess  Elizabeth  Gallitzin,  having  herself  abjured  the  Gieek 
schism,  entered  the  comiiTunity  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  at  Paris. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  279 

Aftor  a  stay  at  Rome,  she  was  sent  to  the  United  States  in  1840, 
where  she  founded  four  houses  of  her  order,  and  died  of  the  yel- 
low fever  in  Louisiana,  at  the  age  of  47,  on  the  8th  of  December, 
1843. 

These  illustrious  examples  of  return  to  unity,  are  not  the  only 
ones  which  the  Russian  nobility  have  given  within  the  last  sixty 
years.  Many  families  have  embraced  Catholicity,  and  form  a 
society  no  less  agreeable  than  distinguished  at  Rome  and  Paris, 
the  intolerance  of  the  Czar  forcing  them  into  exile  to  enjoy  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion.  These  conversions  would  be  far 
more  numerous,  but  for  the  cruel  persecutions  exercised  by  the 
Greek  schism.  The  wounded  Russians  in  the  Crimea  gladly 
confessed  to  the  French  chaplains,  and  the  prisoners  of  Bomar- 
suud  communicate  at  the  hands  of  Polish  missionaries  sent  to 
evangelize  them.  These  poor  people  are  full  of  faith;  they 
know  nothing  of  the  subtleties  of  Photius,  and  would  cheerfully 
return  to  the  true  faith,  if  ambition,  pride,  and  policy  did  not 
keep  the  Muscovite  princes  out  of  the  Divine  Unity  of  the  Church. 

The  life  of  Prince  Demetrius  Gallitzin  is  little  known  in 
Europe,  or  even  in  America,  and  in  hopes  of  soon  seeing  an 
extended  memoir,  we  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  history 
of  the  Pastor  of  the  Alleghanies.  It  was  in  the  design  of  Provi- 
dence that  all  nations  of  Europe  should  furnish  their  contingent 
of  missionaries  to  the  United  States,  and  Russia  has  given  two 
scions  of  one  of  her  most  ancient  families,  to  preach  the  Gospel 
and  expound  the  Catechism  to  the  republicans  of  the  New 
World,  and  the  tawny  denizens  of  their  Western  prairies. 


280  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

DIOCESE    OF    PITTSBURG DIOCESE    OF    ERIE (1792-1878). 

The  Abbe  Flaget  at  Pittsburg— The  Eev.  F.  X.  O'Brien  and  Charles  B.  Maguire— The 
Poor  Clares — The  Colony  of  Asylum— The  Chevalier  John  Keating— Colony  of  Ilar- 
man  Bottom — Episcopate  of  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  O'Connor — Sisters  of  Mercy — The 
Brothers  of  the  Presentation — The  Franciscan  Brothers— The  Benedictines— Passion- 
Ists— Early  missions  at  Erie— Bishop  Flaget— Bishop  Domenec  of  Pittsburg— Bishop 
Mullen  of  Erie- See  of  Allegheny- Bishop  Tuigg. 

We  have  seen  tliat  the  Recollects  of  France  were  the  first 
priests  who,  a  century  since,  offered  the  holy  sacrifice  in  the  fort 
around  which  the  vast  city  of  Pittsburg  has  gathered.  After 
them,  too,  a  French  priest  is  the  first  whom  we  find  exercising 
the  ministry  at  Pittsburg.  In  the  month  of  May,  1792,  the 
Abbe  Benedict  Joseph  Flaget,  the  future  Bishop  of  Bardstovrn 
and  Louisville,  journeying  from  Baltimore  to  Vincennes,  the  sta- 
tion which  Bishop  Carroll  had  assigned  him,  was  forced  to  wait 
six  months  at  Pittsburg,  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  being  so  low  as 
to  render  navigation  impossible.  During  this  forced  stay,  the 
young  missionary  was  not  idle.  He  resided  with  a  descendant 
of  French  Huguenots,  who  had  married  an  American  Protestant 
h;dy,  but  who  both  received  the  Abbe  Flaget  very  cordially. 
The  latter  said  Mass  daily  in  their  house ;  and  then  devoted  him- 
self to  the  religious  instruction  of  some  French  or  Canadian  aet- 
tlers  and  the  Catholic  soldiers.  Fort  Pitt,  in  Pittsburg,  was  then 
the  head-quarters  of  General  Wayne-,  about  to  lead  his  famous 
expedition  against  the  Indians  of  the  Northwest.  The  general 
cordially  welcomed  Mr.  Flaget,  who  presented  him  a  letter  of  in- 
troduction from  Bishop  Carroll,  and  the  young  priest  endeared 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  2S1 

himself  to  all  by  his  cliaritable  care  of  the  gamson  during  the 
ravages  caused  by  the  small-pox  among  the  troops.  Tn  another 
circumstance,  too,  he  displayed  a  truly  apostolic  zeal,  when  four 
deserters  who  had  been  retaken  were  condemned  to  death  by 
court-martial.  Two  of  these  soldiers  were  Catholics,  another  a 
Protestant,  the  fourth  a  French  infidel.  Mr.  Flaget  visited  them 
in  prison,  and  though  he  spoke  but  little  English,  he  had  the 
consolation  of  converting  the  Protestant,  and  administering  the 
sacraments  to  the  two  Catholics.  As  to  the  Frenchman,  he  ob- 
stinately refused  all  the  succors  of  religion  ;  and  the  grief  which 
the  missionary  expressed  at  the  thought  of  the  impenitence  of  his 
countryman,  induced  General  Wayne  to  grant  him  the  pardon  ot 
the  culprit.* 

In  1796,  Butler  county,  lying  north  of  Pittsburg,  was  declared 
by  government  open  to  colonization  ;  and  Irish  Catholics  from 
Youngstown  immediately  began  to  settle  there,  and  others  swelled 
the  population  of  Pittsburg.  A  mission  was  founded  at  Sugar 
Creek,  and  was  attended,  it  is  believed,  by  Father  C.  Whelan. 
In  the  first  years  of  this  century,  the  Rev.  F.  X.  O'Brien  had  the 
centre  of  this  mission,  at  Brownsville,  forty  miles  south  of  Pitts- 
burg, which  latter  city  he  visited  every  month,  to  say  Mass  for 
the  few  Catholics  who  gathered  around  him  in  a  private  room. 
About  1807,  however,  the  Rev.  Mr.  O'Brien  made  Pittsburg  his 
residence,  and  in  the  following  year  erected  St.  Patrick's  Church, 
so  apparently  large  for  the  wants  of  the  fiiithful,  that  he  was  long 
annoyed  with  reproaches  of  extravagance.  Yet  it  was  only  fore- 
sight ;  and  since  then,  although  additions  have  nearly  doubled 
the  church  in  size,  it  is  not,f  with  the  eleven  other  churches  or 
chapels  that  rise  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  suflBcient  for  the 


*  Bishop  Spalding.     Life,  &e.,  of  Bishop  Flaget,  p.  30. 

t  The  picsent  St.  Patrick's  is  not  on  the  site  of  the  old  one,  which  was 
burnt  in  1854,  as  the  place  had  become  unfit  for  a  church  from  tiie  railroads 
concentrating  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 


282  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Catholic  population  of  the  episcopal  See  of  Pittsburg.  The  Rev 
Mr.  O'Brien  zealously  discharged  the  functions  of  pastor  of  St. 
Patrick's  till  March,  1820.  At  that  epoch  he  retired  to  Mary- 
land, his  native  State,  and,  except  a  short  stay  at  Conewago, 
never  left,  and  died  some  years  after,  it  would  seem,  at  An- 
napolis. 

The  Rev.  F.  X.  O'Brien  was  succeeded  at  Pittsburg  by  Pather 
Charles  B.  Maguire,  an  Irish  Franciscan,  who  had  studied  at 
St.  Isidore's  Convent,  Rome.  He  was  even  a  professor  there, 
when  the  French  invasion  compelled  him  to  retire  to  Germany, 
where  he  received  from  the  royal  family  of  Bourbon,  then  exiled 
from  France,  many  favors  and  marks  of  respect.  He  came  to 
the  United  States  about  1812,  and  the  mission  of  Westmoreland 
county,  comprising  Latrobe  and  Youngstown,  was  first  assigned 
to  him.  There  Father  Brouwer  had  taken  up  his  abode  in  1789  ; 
and  this  cradle  of  Catholicity  in  the  diocese  of  Pittsburg  ha.^ 
become,  since  1846,  the  cradle  of  the  Benedictine  Order  in  the 
United  States.  Father  Maguire,  who  baptized  most  of  the  Cath- 
olics of  this  generation  at  Pittsburg,  was  full  of  ambition  for. 
God's  glory.  St.  Patrick's  Church,  even  with  its  additions,  did 
not  seem,  in  his  eyes,  large  enough  for  the  present  and  future  of 
his  congregation.  On  a  hill  in  Grand-street  he  resolved  to  build 
a  cathedral,  long  befoi'e  there  was  any  mention  of  having  a  bish- 
op at  Pittsburg ;  and  he  undertook,  with  rare  energy,  the  con- 
struction of  St.  Paul's  Church.  Yet  he  did  not  live  to  see  it 
consecrated.  This  took  place  in  1834,  and  in  July  of  the  pre- 
ceding year,  Father  Maguire  had  died  at  Pittsburg.  The  Rev 
John  O'Reilly,  who  had  been  Father  Maguire's  assistant  from 
1831,  succeeded  him  in  his  pastoral  charge,  and  was  replaced  in 
1844  by  the  Rev.  Michael  O'Connor,  now  Bishop  of  Pittsburg. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  F.  P.  Kenrick,  the  Coadjutor  of  Philadelphia, 
VTTote,  on  the  14th  of  January,  1834  : 

"  Pittsburg,  a  considerable  city,  at  the  other  extremity  of  Penn 


IN   THE   UNITED  STATES.  283 

Bjlvania,  amid  a  population  of  twenty  thousand  souls,  contains^ 
according  to  a  moderate  computation,  four  or  five  thousand 
Catholics.  Thus  far,  we  have  had  only  one  church  there,  St. 
Patrick's ;  but  we  hope  soon  to  have  another,  St.  Paul's,  a  vast 
edifice,  far  advanced,  and  of  magnificent  construction.  It  is  now 
five  years  since  this  new  church  was  begun  ;  but  want  of  pecu- 
niary resources  has  retarded  its  completion.  The  pastor  of  St. 
Patrick's,  Mr.  John  O'Reilly,  who  has  already  built  three  churches 
at  Newry,  Huntington,  and  Bellefonte,  is  now  using  every  eff"ort 
to  complete  St.  Patrick's  at  Pittsburg.  The  Abbe  Masquelet,  an 
Alsacian,  aids  him  in  the  functions  of  the  holy  ministry,  princi- 
pally by  taking  the  charge  of  the  Germans,  who  are  very  nume- 
rous, and  of  some  Fi-ench  who  reside  there.  Near  Pittsburg,  the 
Poor  Clares  have  a  convent,  containing  fourteen  rehgious,  under 
the  spiritual  direction  of  Father  Van  de  Wejer,  a  Belgian  re- 
ligious of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic* 

o 

This  monastery,  which  was  the  first  established  religious  com- 
munity in  that  part  of  Pennsylvania,  had  been  founded  about 
1828  at  Alleghenytown,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pittsburg.  Sister 
Frances  Van  de  Vogel,  belonging  to  a  wealthy  Flemish  family, 
arrived  from  Belgmm  in  Pennsylvania  with  one  of  her  compan- 
ions, and  purchased  with  her  own  means  the  property  on  which 
the  convent  was  built.  Father  Maguire  took  a  great  interest  in 
this  foundation,  and  encouraged  it  by  his  influence  and  counsels. 
About  1830,  the  Poor  Clares  established  another  house  at  Green 
Bay,  in  the  present  State  of  Wisconsin  ;  but  neither  house  ac- 
quired stabihty,  and  after  difficulties  of  jurisdiction  with  Dr. 
Reso,  Bishop  of  Detroit,  Madame  Van  de  Vogel,  who  claimed  to  be 
sole  Superior  of  the  Order,  became  discouraged,  and  sold  the 


♦  Annales  do  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  viii.  215.  The  Rev.  Franrois 
M^squelPt;  removed  in  1817  to  the  diooese  of  Cincinnati,  and  wa.s  stationed 
Rt  St..  iiartixi's,  iiear  Fayetteville.  Ilia  name  does  not  appear  after  1S40,  nof 
i?aii"'-"r  Van  d<3  Wejer's  after  1835. 


284  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

property  in  both  places.  Some  of  the  religious  returned  to  Bel- 
gium, others  entered  various  communities,  and  Madame  Van  de 
Vogel  retired  to  Rome.  Thus,  the  Sisters  of  St.  Clare  failed  in 
Pennsylvania  and  in  Wisconsin,  as  they  had  failed  in  George- 
town in  the  last  century ;  and  the  Almighty  refused  them  that 
vitality,  with  which  so  many  other  communities  in  the  United 
States  show  themselves  to  have  been  gifted. 

In  the  letter  already  cited,  Bishop  Kenrick  gives  other  inter- 
esting details  as  to  the  religious  state  of  Catholics  in  Western 
Pennsylvania.  "  On  my  visit  to  St.  Peter's,  Brownsville,  a  little 
village  on  the  Monongahela  river,  I  was  much  edified  at  the  joy 
with  which  a  pious  French  widow,  residing  in  the  neighborhood, 
came,  with  her  children,  to  approach  the  sacraments,  which  she 
had  been  debarred  from  for  years,  in  consequence  of  not  meeting 
a  priest  who  understood  her  language.  The  faithful  of  this  mis- 
sion are  to  be  pitied,  being  able  only  four  times  a  year  to  enjoy 
the  presence  of  a  priest,  the  pastor  of  Blairsville,  Rev.  James 
Ambrose  Stillinger,  a  young  American  priest,  who  visits  them 
thus  till  I  can  place  a  pastor  here.*  The  French  famihes  in 
Potter  county  have  not  even  this  consolation,  for  it  is  only  at 
rare  intervals  that  the  pastor  of  All  Saints,  Lewistown,  who  has 
charge  of  this  mission,  and  those  of  Clearfield  and  Bellefonte,f 
can  take  the  long  journey  necessary  to  visit  them.  He  travels 
sixty  miles  every  month  to  go  to  Clearfield,  where  there  are  many 
French ;  but  those  in  Potter  county  are  still  farther  off"." 

This  French  immigi'ation,  to  the  importance  of  which,  in 
Pennsylvania,  Bishop  Kenrick,  in  several  instances,  alludes,  took 
place  at  different  epochs  ;  but  the  principal  attempts  at  coloni- 
zation were  induced  by  the  Reign  of  Terror,  w^hich  drove  from 
France  its  noblest  and  best  families.     On  perusing  the  travels  of 


♦  He  is  still  pastor  of  Blairsville  (1853.) 

t  These  are  still  in  tne  diocese  of  Philadelphia. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  285 

the  Duke  of  Larocliefoucauld-Liancourt,  in  the  interior  of  the 
United  States,  in  1795,  1796,  and  1797,*  we  are  surprised  at 
the  number  of  French  whom  he  finds  at  every  step,  even  to  the 
very  backwoods,  then  inhabited  by  the  Indians.  In  another 
portion  of  this  history,  we  have  shown  how  the  descendants  of 
the  French  now  form  one  of  the  elements  of  the  Cathohc  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States.  Still,  many  families,  cut  off  from 
all  religious  aid,  unhappily  saw  the  faith  expire  in  their  children; 
and  what  is  more  sad,  other  families,  placed  in  the  most  advan- 
tageous positions,  made  no  effort  to  secure  their  offspring  from 
Protestantism.  In  1794,  thirty  families  of  French  officers  and 
nobility  founded  the  Colony  of  Asylum,  near  Towanda,  in  Brad- 
ford county.  Some  came  from  Paris,  others  from  St.  Domingo, 
and  a  number  of  mechanics  and  negroes  followed  them  to  their 
new  abode.  They  were  also  attended  by  several  priests — the 
Abbe  de  Bec-de-Lievre,  formerly  a  canon  in  Brittany ;  the  Abbe 
Carles,  canon  of  Quercy ;  the  Abbe  de  Sevigny,  Archdeacon  of 
Toul ;  and  the  Abbe  Fromentin,  of  Etampes.  Mr.  Nores,  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Holy  Chapel,  and  possessor  of  a  small  priory,  al- 
though not  in  orders,  was  another  of  the  party.  But  these 
ecclesiastics  were  not  of  the  stamp  of  the  virtuous  Sulpitians, 
who  at  the  same  time  offered  their  services  to  Bishop  Carroll, 
and  hastened  to  preach  the  Gospel  wherever  that  prelate  sent 
them,  whether  to  Boston,  Vincennes,  Kentucky,  or  other  parts  of 
his  vast  diocese.  The  Abbes  of  Asylum  never  asked  the  bishop 
for  faculties  to  exercise  the  ministry  in  America ;  and  thinking- 
only  of  the  goods  of  this  world,  became  grocers  or  farmers.  In 
a  spot  which  contained  four  priests.  Mass  was  never  offered.  ^ 
They  never  even  thought  of  arranging  a  place  for  a  chapel,* 
where  the  settlers  might  meet  morning  and  evening,  to  raise  up 

*  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  viii.  213.  Voyage  dans  les  Etats- 
Dnis  d'Amcrique  fait  en  1795, 1796,  et  1797,  par  La  Eochefoucauld-Liancoup* 
Paris,  An.  vii- 


286  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

their  hearts  to  God.  No  worship  was  practised  among  these 
brilliant  officers,  their  companions  and  children  ,  and  this  shows 
how  far  the  philosophy  of  Voltaire  had  spread  its  ravages  in  the 
hearts  of  families,  and  even  in  the  sanctuary  As  soon  as  the 
nobles  and  clergy  could  return  to  France,  the  more  influential  of 
the  colonists  of  Asylum  hastened  to  leave  America.  There  re 
mained  in  Bradford  county  only  the  farmers  and  mechanics ; 
and  among  the  descendants  of  these  at  the  present  day,  there  is 
not  a  single  Catholic — a  fatal  example  of  the  lot  which  awaits 
the  settlers  who  are  remote  from  true  pastors,  and  absorbed  in 
the  interests  of  the  present  life. 

Yet  we  are  deceived :  the  Colony  of  Asylum  had  one  priest 
who  soon  awoke  to  a  feeling  of  the  awful  character  with  which 
he  was  invested.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Carles  proceeded  to  Savannah, 
and  devoting  himself  to  the  ministry,  labored  among  the  Catho- 
lics of  Georgia  till  after  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  when 
he  returned  to  France,  and  became  Vicar-general  of  Bordeaux, 
under  Cardinal  Cheverus,  whom  he  preceded  a  few  days  to  the 
tomb,  and  whose  death  materially  hastened  that  of  the  saintly 
archbishop.* 

The  Colony  of  Asylum  also  endowed  Pennsylvania  with  an 
excellent  Catholic  family,  whose  virtue  has  been  honorably  per- 
petuated ;  and  an  account  of  the  patriarch  of  St.  Mary's  Church, 

*  As  to  Dr.  Carles,  see  Bishop  England's  Works,  iii.  252-4,  Ham  on ;  Life 
of  Cardinal  Cheverus  (translated  by  Walsh),  p.  199,  where  he  is  styled  a 
most  venerable  and  exemplary  priest,  whom  the  cardinal  had  brought  with 
him  from  Montauban.  Dr.  Carles  fell  dead  as  he  was  leaving  the  altar  after 
High  Mass,  on  Easter  Sunday,  1834.  Two  more  of  the  priests  at  the  Asy- 
lum returned  to  France  ;  but  one  of  them,  Mr.  Fromentin,  remained,  mar- 
ried, and  removing  to  Louisiana,  became  Clerk  of  the  Legislature.  As  such, 
he  was  a  leader  in  the  dispute  with  General  Jackson,  which  led  to  the  closing 
of  the  sessions  of  that  body.  He  died  of  yellow  fever,  which  he  had  braved. 
The  principal  families  at  Asylum,  in  1795,  were  Messrs.  De  Noailles,  De 
"Blacon,  De  Montule,  D'Andelot,  De  Beaulieu,  De  la  Koue,  De  Vilaine,  Mes- 
dames  D'Antrepont,  De  Sybert,  De  Maulde,  De  Bercy.  Du  Petit  Thouars,  the 
future  hero  of  the  Tormant  at  Aboukir,  was  also  at  Asylum  II  1795. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  287 

PLiladelphia,  deserves  a  place  from  our  pen.  John  Keating, 
born  in  Ireland,  on  the  19th  of  September,  1759,  is  the  grand- 
son of  Jeffrey  Keating,  who  raised  a  company  of  horse,  during 
the  siege  of  Limerick,  and  having  subsequently  retired  to  France 
with  King  James's  army,  distinguished  himself  in  Spain  and 
Italy,  under  Marshal  Catinat.  Valentine,  Baron  Keating,  the  son 
of  Jeffrey,  obtained  permission  to  return  to  Ireland,  but  finding 
the  penal  laws  intolerable,  went  back  to  France,  and  had  his 
children  educated  at  the  Jesuit  college,  Poitiers.  John  Keating 
and  his  three  brothers  entered  as  officers  in  the  Irish  regiment 
of  Walsh-Serrant,  in  the  French  service.  At  the  period  of  our 
revolution,  this  regiment  was  sent  to  the  West  Indies,  then  to 
Pondicherry  and  Mauritius;  and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
French  revolution,  was  in  St.  Domingo.  "There,"  says  the 
Duke  de  la  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,  "  John  Keating,  having  the 
confidence  of  all  parties,  and  having  refused  the  most  seductive 
offers  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Convention,  preferred  to  re- 
tire poor  to  America,  rather  than  remain  rich  and  in  honor  at 
St.  Domingo,  by  violating  his  first  oath.  A  man  of  a  character 
at  once  severe  and  mild,  of  distinguished  merit,  rare  intelligence, 
uncommon  virtue,  and  unexampled  disinterestedness,  *  *  * 
we  may  say  that  the  confidence  which  his  great  intelligence  and 
virtue  inspire,  make  it  more  easy  for  him  than  for  others  to  ter- 
minate a  difficult  affair."* 

Captain  John  Keating,  Chevalier  of  St.  Louis,  was  one  of  the 
founders  and  organizers  of  Asylum ;  but  when  his  friends  returned 
to  France  he  retired  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  has  since  edified 
whole  generations  by  his  piety  and  virtues.  Although  more  than 
ninety-six  years  of  age,  he  continues  to  occupy  every  Sunday  his 
wonted  place  in  St.  Mai  y's,  and  enjoys  universal  esteem  through' 
out  the  city.     His  daughter,  left  a  widow,  resolved  to  enter  a 

*  Voyage  de  la  Eochefoucauld,  i.  159.  See  Irish  at  Home  and  Abroad, 
o.  187. 


288  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

convent  as  soon  as  her  children  were  old  enough  to  take  charge 
of  their  grandfather,  and  she  is  now  Superioress  of  the  Visitation 
at  Frederick. 

If  the  Asylum  gave  in  general  results  so  afflicting  to  relignon, 
it  is  consoling  to  see  other  colonies  flourishing  under  quite  differ- 
ent conditions.  In  1832,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Heyden  proposed  to 
Mr.  Ridelmoser,  a  wealthy  German  Catholic  in  Baltimore,  to 
draw  Catholics  to  his  lands,  on  condition  that  a  church  should  be 
built  and  the  ground  reserved  for  Catholic  settlers.  Mr.  Ridel- 
moser, who  possessed  extensive  tracts  in  Bedford  county,  imme- 
diately built  a  church  at  Herman  Bottom,  furnished  it  with 
vestments  and  plate,  built  a  rectory,  reserved  a  hundred  acres  oi 
excellent  land  for  the  support  of  a  pastor,  and  allotted  sixty  more 
for  the  support  of  a  school.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Heyden,  on  his  side, 
induced  Catholic  families  to  come  and  settle  at  Herman  Bottom. 
The  church  was  consecrated  on  the  1st  of  Januaiy,  1826 ;  one 
hundred  and  fifty  families  were  installed  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  assure  their  children  the  competence  which  agriculture  gives 
in  America,  while,  at  the  same  time,  they  bring  them  up  in  the 
faith  of  their  fathers  and  the  practice  of  religion.  It  was  the 
success  of  the  scheme  of  Prince  Gallitzin  which  induced  Dr. 
Heyden  to  attempt  an  enterprise  of  a  similar  character  in  Bedford 
county,  and  we  see  that  he  succeeded  as  his  venerable  friend  had 
done  at  Loretto. 

We  have  said  that  Bishop  Kenrick  in  1834  noted  the  existence 
of  a  large  German  population  at  Pittsburg.  To  take  care  of  the 
Catholics  of  that  nation,  some  Redemptorist  Fathers  arrived  at 
Pittsburg  in  1839,  and  immediately  began  the  erection  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Philomena,  Two  years  previous,  four  Sisters  of 
Charity  from  Emmetsburg  opened  a  school  at  Pittsburg,  and 
Foon  took  charge  of  an  orphan  asylum.*     But  it  is  chiefly  since 

'  They  retired  in  1845  from  the  diocese  of  Pittsburg,  and  the  Sisters  of 
Mercy  have  succeeded  them  at  St.  Paul's  Asylum. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  289 

184  3,  when  Dr.  O'Connor,  instead  of  being  pastor,  became  Bishop 
of  Pittsburg,  that,  under  the  influence  of  his  zeal,  the  new  diocese 
saw  churches,  convents,  and  monasteries  rise  on  all  sides,  so  that 
it  is  now  one  oi  the  best  endowed  in  the  United  States  in  the  re- 
sources of  its  clergy  and  the  number  of  its  religious  communities. 
When  Bishop  O'Connor  was  returning  from  Rome  after  his  conse- 
cration, he  passed  through  L'eland,  and  induced  a  colony  of  Sisters 
of  Mercy  to  come  to  Pittsburg.  This  was  the  first  foundation  of 
this  venerable  Order  in  the  United  States;  but  since  1843  it  has 
struck  such  deep  roots,  that  in  1855  there  are  not  less  than 
eighty-four  Sisters  of  Mercy  in  the  diocese  of  Pittsburg  alone. 
They  have  under  their  direction  the  Mercy  Hospital  in  the  epis- 
copal city,  a  House  of  Industry  at  Alleghany,  four  boarding- 
schools  at  Latrobe,  Loretto,  Hollidaysburg,  and  Pittsburg,  two 
orphan  asylums,  and  several  free-schools,  frequented  by  hundreds 
of  pupds.  Moreover,  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  of  Pittsburg  have  sent 
colonies  to  three  other  dioceses  in  the  United  States — to  Chicago 
in  1846,  Providence  in  1851,  and  Baltimore  in  1855.  The  dio- 
cese of  Chicago  contains  already  forty-six  Sisters  of  this  Order, 
comprising  thirty-one  professed.  A  still  larger  number  is  found 
in  the  dioceses  of  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Hartford,  Little  Rockj 
and  San  Franciscc. 

The  Sisters  of  the  Order  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy  have  in  view 
all  the  spiritual,  and  even  all  the  corporal  works  of  mercy,  but 
more  especially  the  instruction  of  poor  girls,  the  visit  of  the  sick 
and  dying  poor,  and  of  prisoners,  and  the  protection  of  decent 
girls  in  distress.  To  attain  this  last  object,  they  open  Houses  of 
Industry,  where  girls  out  of  work  or  place  find  labor  and  a  shel- 
ter. The  Sisters  endeavor  to  place  them  as  servants  or  hands  in 
o^ood  houses,  and  as  families  rely  on  the  I'ecommendation  of  the 
Sisters,  they  apply  at  the  convent  in  preference  to  venal  intelli 
gence  offices.  During  the  short  period  /hat  the  Sisters  kee^ 
their  protegees  their  religious  instruction  is  not  neglected,  and  in 

13 


290  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

every  city  where  such  a  house  exists,  it  has  produced  iucalculablf 
good  in  preserving  young  girls  from  the  seductions  of  heresy  and 
vice.  The  Sisters  of  Mercy  \isit  the  prisons,  attend  those  con- 
demned to  death,  and  justly  consider  themselves  combining  in 
happy  proportions  the  life  of  Martha  with  that  of  Mary.  "  The 
offices  of  the  choir,  as  the  other  duties  of  the  contemplative  life, 
take  up  several  hours  of  the  day ;  and  these  assure  each  of  the 
Sisters  the  particular  and  distinct  grace  which  is  accorded  to  the 
life  of  activity  and  contemplation,  animating  her  amid  her  painful 
occupations  by  the  anticipated  sounds  of  that  voice  which  says : 
*  Come,  ye  w^ell  beloved  of  my  Father,  *  *  *  *  whatever 
you  have  done  for  one  of  my  least  brethren  you  have  done  for 
me.'  "* 

This  institute  arose  at  Dubhn,  in  1829,  and  its  foundress  is 
Mrs.  Catharine  McAuley,  born  on  the  iVth  of  September,  1778, 
in  a  castle  near  Dublin.  Belonging  to  a  Catholic  family  favored 
with  the  goods  of  this  world,  young  Catharine  had  the  misfortune 
to  lose  her  parents  in  childhood  and  be  brought  up  by  a  Protestant 
uncle.  She  was  not  required  to  renounce  her  baptismal  faith, 
but  she  was  deprived  of  all  means  of  religious  instruction,  and 
many  a  young  girl  would  have  succumbed  to  the  influence  of 
such  an  education.  Miss  McAuley,  however,  resolved  to  remain 
firm  in  the  communion  of  her  parents,  and  as  soon  as  she  was 
mistress  of  her  actions  she  was  instructed  in  her  religion,  and 
made  rapid  progress  in  piety.  Kejecting  all  offers  for  her  hand, 
she  conceived  the  project  of  devoting  her  person  and  her  fortune 
to  the  relief  of  her  neighbor ;  yet  she  did  not  leave,  before  theii 


*  Illustrations  of  the  Corporal  and  Spiritual  Works  of  Mercy ;  by  a  Sistoi 
of  the  religious  order  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy,  with  descriptive  anecdotes. 
London,  1840.  This  charming  album  represents  in  a  series  of  engravings 
the  Sisters  of  Mercy  in  the  exercise  of  each  work,  and  was  designed  and 
written  by  Sister  Agnew,  a  convert  from  Protestantism,  authoress  of  Ger?-! 
dine  Kome  and  the  Abbey,  and  the  Young  Communicants.  We  regret  only 
that  the  letter-press  was  so  brief. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  291 

death,  the  foster-parents  who  had  watched  over  her  chiUhood, 
and  e\  en  had  the  consolation  of  seeing  both  her  uncle  and  aunt 
nbjure  Protestantism.  The  spectacle  of  all  the  works  of  charity- 
affected  by  Miss  Mcx\uley  in  their  castle  had  preached  most 
eftectually  to  their  hearts.  Guided  by  the  advice  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Armstrong,  she  bought  some  ground  on  Baggot-street,  Dub- 
lin, and  erected  a  large  house  to  found  her  peculiar  work  of 
mercy — "  the  protection  of  decent  women."  After  long  consulta- 
tions with  the  diocesan  authority  as  to  the  propriety  of  founding 
a  new  institute,  instead  of  joining  one  of  those  already  existing. 
Mrs.  McAuley  resolved  to  create  the  Order  of  Our  Lady  of 
Mercy,  and  entered  her  convent  with  some  companions  in  1827. 

She  soon,  however,  left  it  in  order  to  go  through  a  regular  no- 
vitiate in  the  Presentation  Convent,  Dublin ;  after  which  she  re- 
turned to  her  house  in  Baggot-street,  in  December,  1830,  and 
her  companions  in  their  turn  went  to  receive  the  veil  at  the 
Presentation.  Since  then  the  renown  of  the  good  effected  at 
Dublin  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  induced  other  cities  to  solicit 
them,  and  the  new  Dublin  Order  extended  with  wonderful  rapidity 
over  all  Ireland.  Nor  was  the  good  which  it  effected  confined 
to  the  island  of  saints ;  it  soon  spread  to  England*  and  the  colo- 
nies of  the  British  Empire,  and  ere  long  the  Sisterhood  of  Mercy 
came  to  share  the  labors  of  the  other  religious  orders  in  the 
United  States.  In  1843,  Bishop  O'Connor,  as  we  have  seen, 
solicited  and  obtained  a  colony  of  seven  Sisters  for  his  episcopal 
city,  of  which  Mother  Francis  Xavier  Warde  was  appointed  Su- 
perior. There,  meanwhile,  God  had  prepared  a  most  valuable 
accession  to  the  pious  colony  thus  selected  for  the  undertaking. 
Miss  Eliza  Jane  Tiernan  was  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  wealthiest 
and  most  highly  esteemed  merchants  of  Pittsburg.  She  was 
educated  at  Emmetsburg,  and  uniting  in  her  person  the  accom- 

•  The  first  convent  in  England  was  founded  at  Bermondsey,  London,  in 
1839. 


292  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

plisliments  which  a  polished  education  gave,  with  the  natural 
advantages  arising  from  the  weahh  and  position  of  her  family,  as 
well  as  from  her  own  natural  talents,  she  was  one  of  the  greatest 
ftivorites  in  the  fashionable  circles  of  Pittsburg.  She  had  been 
for  a  long  time  deliberating  on  her  vocation,  but  in  the  summer 
of  1843,  before  the  appointment  of  the  bishop,  and  during  Dr. 
O'Connor's  absence  in  Europe,  she  resolved  on  examining  care- 
fully the  will  of  God  in  her  regard.  She  had  heard  something  of 
the  Order  of  Mercy,  though  none  of  its  members  were  yet  to  be 
found  in  the  United  States.  She  obtained  all  the  information 
she  could  on  the  subject,  and  finally  resolved  to  recommend  the 
matter  to  God  under  the  patronage  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  to 
whom  she  had  always  entertained  great  devotion.  She  made  a 
novena  preparatory  to  his  feast  in  December,  1843,  and  having 
received  communion  on  the  morning  of  that  day,  resolved  firmly 
to  become  a  Sister  of  Mercy,  though  she  was  then  entirely  igno- 
rant of  the  means  by  which  her  resolution  could  be  accomplished. 
Bishop  O'Connor  had  already  been  consecrated  at  Rome,  but  no 
account  of  his  movements  had  reached  Pittsburg  before  the  3d  of 
December.  On  that  day  his  departure  from  Europe,  accompa 
nied  by  seven  Sisters  of  Mercy,  was  announced  in  the  newspapers 
received  from  Philadelphia,  and  these  were  handed  by  Mr.  Tier- 
nan  to  his  daughter,  when  he  came  to  dinner,  with  the  pithy 
remark  that  he  thought  he  had  news  that  would  interest  her.  It 
is  unnecessary  to  say  that  in  a  few  weeks  she  was  a  postulant  in 
the  new  convent  of  Mercy,  and  in  due  time  was  professed  under 
the  name  of  Sister  Xavier.  Her  father  died  before  her  profession, 
leaving  her  a  handsome  fortune,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  use 
she  would  make  of  it.  She  bestowed  it  upon  the  community, 
and  thus  enabled  the  Sisters  to  become  almost  at  once  firmly 
esta Wished,  and  to  spread  rapidly.  In  1843,  the  Mother  Supe- 
rioi  resolved  to  revisit  Ireland  to  obtain  an  additional  supply  of 
Bisters  of  experience,  who  might  enable  the  community  to  meet 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  293 

the  increasing  demand  for  their  services.  She  selected  Sister 
Xavier  as  her  companion.  At  the  various  houses  they  visited, 
all  were  so  struck  with  her  piety  and  good  sense  that  they 
referred  to  her  as  a  most  suitable  person  to  be  appointed  mistress 
of  novices,  and  to  that  oflPice  she  was  in  fact  appointed  on  her 
return.  But  alas !  her  career  was  short.  Of  her  it  may  be  truly 
said,  "  In  brevi  explevit  tempora  raulta."  The  Sisters  opened 
Jieir  hospital  in  1847,  at  a  time  when  there  was  no  shelter  for 
the  sick  and  poor  of  the  city  but  an  abandoned  coal-shed,  which 
had  formerly  been  connected  with  the  water-works.  There  was 
nothing  in  which  Sister  Xavier  felt  greater  interest,  and  she  de- 
voted herself  to  it  with  all  her  energies.  In  the  spring  of  1848 
the  typhus  fever  was  raging.  Several  of  the  Sisters  contracted 
the  fatal  disease  and  fell  victims  to  it.  Sister  Xavier  was  inces- 
sant in  her  attendance,  but  though  she  escaped  the  typhus,  ery- 
sipelas, the  result  of  her  close  attendance  in  the  crowded  wards, 
attacked  her,  and  in  a  few  days  put  a  period  to  her  labors  on 
earth. 

Such  was  one  whom  God  raised  up  for  the  Order  to  give  it 
its  first  member  in  the  United  States,  an  example  of  all  virtue, 
her  personal  services,  and  earthly  wealth. 

Among  the  eminent  Sisters  of  this  house  who  have  since  de- 
parted this  life,  we  may  also  allude  to  the  Superioress,  Sister 
Josephine  CuUen,  a  niece  of  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  Sister^ 
Aloysia  Strange,  cousin  of  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Westmin- 
ster, both  primates  of  the  United  Kingdom  having  contributed 
in  their  families  to  found  the  Order  of  Mercy  among  us.* 

All  the  houses  in  the  United  States  are  not,  however,  filiations 
of  that  at  Pittsburg.  That  at  New  York  was  founded  by  Arch- 
bishop Hughes,  who,  in  1846,  obtained  some  Sisters  in  Dublin 
for  his  episcopal  city,  where  they  have  accomplished  prodigies  of 

♦  Letter  of  Kt.  Eev.  M.  O'Connor.    A  Sketch  of  the  Order  of  Mercy :  Dublin. 


294:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

good,  and  in  1855  founded  a  house  in  Brooklyn.  The  house  in 
Newfoundland,  now  numbering  forty  Sisters,  was  founded  from 
Ireland  in  1843,  as  was  that  of  San  Francisco  in  1854. 

The  venerable  foundress  did  not  see  on  earth  this  admirable 
Jevelopment  of  her  work.  Yet  she  lived  long  enough  to  have 
the  consolation  of  hearing  that  her  institute  had  been  canonically 
recognized  at  Rome,  by  Pontifical  rescript  of  July  5th,  1841,  and 
she  died  soon  after,  leaving  a  memory  in  great  veneration  among 
her  spiritual  daughters.* 

After  having  provided  for  the  Christian  education  of  young 
girls  and  the  relief  of  the  sick.  Bishop  O'Connor's  next  care  was 
to  secure  the  youth  of  the  other  sex  the  boon  of  religious  instruc- 
tion, and  with  this  design  the  prelate  brought  from  Ireland  with 
him,  in  1845,  some  Brothers  of  the  Presentation.  The  mother 
house  of  this  religious  institute  was  then  at  Cork ;  but  God  did 
not  seem  to  favor  the  estabhshment  in  America;  one  of  the 
Brothers  soon  died  at  Pittsburg ;  another  asked  to  return  to  Ire 
land ;  a  third  wished  to  leave  the  institute,  in  order  to  become  « 
priest,  and  entered  among  the  Augustinians  at  Philadelphia.  At 
last,  as  if  to  show  the  designs  of  Providence,  Brother  Paul  Carey 
and  Brother  Francis  Ryan  were  struck  by  hghtning  in  the  open 
street  on  the  2d  of  July,  1848,  as  they  were  returning  to  their 
residence  in  Birmingham,  after  teaching  Sunday-school,  in  the 
Bchool-house  attached  to  the  cathedral  in  Pittsburg.  Only  one 
professed  Brother  and  two  novices  were  now  left,  and  these  were 
too  few  to  continue  the  schools. 

Bishop  O'Connor  had  already  thought  of  replacing  them,  and 
applied  to  the  Brothers  of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis,  estat 
lished  in  the  diocese  of  Tuam  in  Ireland.  With  the  approbation 
of  the  Most  Rev.  John  McHale,  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  the  com- 
munities of  Clifden  and  Roundstone  gave  six  members,  who  set 

*  Review,  March,  1847 ;  and  information  afforded  by  Mother  Agne^ 
O'Connor. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  295 

out  for  America  in  184*7,  and  founded  a  house  at  Loretto,  in  the 
village  created  by  the  Rev.  Demetrius  Gallitzin.  The  chief  ob- 
ject of  the  Franciscan  Brothers  is  the  education  of  3'outli,  and 
manual  labor  is  their  secondary  object.  The  principal  convent 
and  novitiate  are  at  Loretto ;  but  the  Brothers  also  opened  a 
house  at  Cameron  Bottom  in  1852,  and  a  school  in  Pittsburg, 
where  they  have  over  four  hundred  pupils.  They  have,  also,  a 
school  at  Allegheny  and  a  boarding-school  at  Loretto.  Thirty 
Brothers  are  employed  in  the  diocese  of  Pittsburg,  and  as  the 
number  increases,  the  vigilant  bishop  confides  schools  to  them, 
to  shield  Catholic  children  from  the  dangers  of  the  government 
schools.  The  Third  Order  of  Franciscans  was  instituted  by  St. 
Francis  of  Assisium  for  persons  living  in  the  world,  either  in  the 
state  of  marriage  or  celibacy.*  At  a  later  date,  Pope  Leo  X. 
selected  from  the  written  rules  of  St.  Francis  those  to  be  observed 
by  the  Tertiaries  living  in  community.  About  1821,  a  branch 
of  the  Order  was  established  at  Mount  Bellew,  county  Galway, 
Ireland,  by  the  Rev.  Michael  Bernard  Dillon,  Friar  Minor ;  and 
the  Provincial  of  the  Franciscans  in  L-eland  appointed  him  Su- 
perior of  the  community,  a  post  which  he  filled  till  his  death, 
1828-  In  January,  1831,  the  Franciscan  Brothers  obtained  per- 
mission of  the  Holy  See  to  depend  solely  on  the  Archbishop  of 
Tuam,  and  in  1848,  those  of  Loretto  asked  to  obey  only  the 
Bishop  of  Pittsburg,  which  was  granted,  with  authority  to  open 
a  novitiate,  and  privilege  of  founding  houses  of  their  Order  in 
other  parts  of  America.f 

The  Catholic  education  of  the  sons  of  the  lower  classes  being 
secured  by  the  coming  of  the  Franciscan  Brothers,  it  still  remain- 

*■  John  Bernardon,  born  at  Assisium  in  1182,  was  called  Francis,  or  the 
French,  because  he  spoke  that  language  fluently.  He  began  to  obtain  fol- 
lowers in  1209,  and  died  in  1226.  He  was  canonized  in  1228.  (See  his  life 
in  Alban  Butler.) 

+  Information  furnished  by  Brother  Lawrence  T.  O'Donnel,  Superior  ol 
the  Monastery  of  Loretto. 


296  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

ed  to  think  of  preserving  religion  in  the  hearts  of  the  j^onng  mbfl 
of  higher  rank  in  society,  by  establishing  a  college,  with  learned 
and  able  masters.  While  anxious  to  secure  this,  Bishop  O'Con- 
nor warmly  welcomed  an  oflfer  of  the  Benedictines  of  Metten,  in 
Bavaria,  to  found  a  monastery  in  his  diocese  ;  and  in  the  coursa 
of  the  year,  1846,  a  priest  of  this  ancient  and  venerable  order, 
Father  Bonifiice  Wimmer,  now  Mitred  Abbot,  arrived,  accompa- 
nied by  sixteen  brothers,  and  four  students  in  theology.  The 
great  St.  Boniface,  who  evangelized  Germany  from  720  to  *755, 
and,  with  the  authority  of  the  Holy  See,  created  four  bishoprics 
in  Bavaria,  also  founded  monasteries  of  religious  there  ;  but  it  is 
not  certain  whether  these  monks  followed  the  rule  of  St.  Bene- 
dict, or  that  of  St.  Basil,  borrowed  from  the  Eastern  monks, 
Boniface,  born  in  England,  drew  over  to  Germany  from  his  na- 
tive land  many  Benedictine  religious,  who  aided  him  to  reform 
abuses  among  the  Christians,  and  convert  the  idolaters.  But  the 
uncertainty  as  to  the  constitutions  of  his  monasteries  ceased  with 
the  year  804,  when  the  Council  of  Aix  la  Chapelle  decreed  that 
the  rule  of  St.  Benedict  only  should  be  followed.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  this  century,  except  that  of  St.  James  of  the  Scots 
at  Ratisbon,  and  of  the  Benedictine  Nuns  at  Eichstadt,  all  the 
Benedictine  monasteries  in  Bavaria  -were  suppressed  by  the  pre- 
ponderance of  Josephism,  and  the  elector  confiscated  their  prop- 
erty. But  twenty-four  years  later,  and  in  182*7,  thanks  to  the 
influence  of  King  Louis,  the  Abbey  of  St.  Michael,  at  Wetten, 
was  restored,  followed  by  St,  Stephen's,  at  Augsburg,  in  1834, 
and  several  in  other  cities.  The  work  of  restoration  being  crown- 
ed, in  1850,  by  the  estabhshment  of  the  Ac  bey  of  St.  Boniface, 
with  a  novitiate  at  Munich,  a  new  generation  of  Fathers  soon  re- 
vived the  learned  studies  and  teachings  of  the  ancient  Benedic- 
tines. When  it  was  proposed  to  found  a  seminary  for  the  German 
missions  in  America,  the  Benedictines  warmly  entered  into  tlia 
project ;    and  Father  Boniface  Wimmer  having  offered  to  begin 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  207 

the  work,  was  sent  out  by  tlie  Society  of  the  Missions  at  Munich. 
The  attempt  proved  most  successful,  and  the  Benedictines  in  Penn- 
sylvania, after  an  existence  of  only  nine  years  in  the  country,  have 
spread  so  as  to  number  five  monasteries,  in  which  one  hundred 
and  fifty  members  of  the  great  fiimily  of  St.  Benedict  devote  them- 
selves to  every  kind  of  intellectual  study  and  manual  labor.  The 
Eoly  See  has  taken  into  consideration  this  remarkable  progress, 
and  by  brief  of  July  29,  1855,  raised  the  monastery  of  St.  Vin- 
cent, at  Latrobe,  to  the  dignity  of  Abbey,  according  to  the 
statutes  of  the  Congregation  of  Bavaria,  and  aggregated  it  to  the 
celebrated  Abbey  of  Monte  Cassino,  in  Italy.  Father  Boniface 
Wimmer  is  appointed  first  Mitred  Abbot  of  the  Benedictines  of 
America,  and  will  have  under  his  jurisdiction  the  monasteries  of 
Carrolltown  and  Indiana,  in  the  diocese  of  Pittsburg,  and  that  of 
St.  Marystown,  in  the  diocese  of  Erie.  St.  Vincent's  Abbey  has 
a  very  flourishing  college ;  and  the  Benedictines  will,  doubtless, 
in  consequence  of  the  complete  organization  nov/  given  to  the  or- 
der in  America,  soon  extend  the  sphere  of  their  action  and  influ- 
ence. Eleven  centuries  since,  Germany  obtained  its  first  religious 
fi-om  England  and  Ireland ;  now  Bavaria  repays  the  debt  in  part, 
at  last,  by  sending  among  the  descendants  of  the  islanders,  in  the 
New  World,  the  Benedictines  and  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame.* 

Bishop  O'Connor  also  enriched  his  diocese  with  a  house  of  the 
Sisters  of  the  Conjrrea-ation  of  Notre  Dame,  of  which  we  have  al- 

*  St.  Benedict,  born  at  Narci,  in  Unibria,  in  480,  began,  towards  the  close 
of  the  century,  to  gatber  companions  around  him  ;  and  at  his  death,  in  543, 
had  ah-eady  built  many  monasteries.  His  rule  spread  all  over  the  West, 
and  after  a  long-  struggle  with  tbat  of  St.  Columban  and  the  Irish  monks, 
which  had  prevailed  in  Ireland,  Britain,  France,  and  Germany,  finally  su- 
perseded it. 

Tbe  diocese  of  Vinccnncs,  also,  possesses  a  monastery  of  Benedictines, 
a  filiation  of  the  celebrated  Abbey  of  oar  Lady,  at  Ensiedlen,  in  Sweden. 
Faithful  to  their  traditions  as  early  civilizers  of  Europe,  the  Benedictines  Oi 
England  and  Spain  are  now  laboring  to  elevate  tbe  savages  of  Australia. 
In  Bavaria  tbey  now  number  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  Fathers  and 
fifty-five  nuiLs, — (Letter  of  Father  Marogna.) 

13* 


298  THE  CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

ready  spoken.  At  Pittsburg  they  instruct  two  hundred  and  fifty 
girls,  and  have,  moreover,  an  orphan  asykim  at  Troy  Hill.  The 
order  is  now  so  firmly  established,  that  for  some  years  no  Sisters 
have  come  out  from  Germany. 

A»  the  same  time  that  Bishop  O'Connor  was  laboi'ing  in  the 
cause  of  education,  he  was  zealously  engaged  in  assuring  a  con- 
tinuance of  parochial  clergy,  and  his  success  has  been  admirable. 
He  found  but  fifteen  priests  in  his  diocese  when  he  took  posses- 
sion in  1843,  and  in  the  short  space  of  ten  years  he  had  increased 
the  number  to  eighty.  Besides  fixed  pastors,  the  prelate  sought 
to  give  his  flock  the  advantage  of  periodical  missions,  where,  by 
the  influence  of  holy  retreats  and  eloquent  preaching,  the  faith 
is  awakened  in  many  hearts.  With  this  \'iew,  during  a  visit  to 
Rome  in  1852,  Dr.  O'Connor  asked  the  General  of  the  Passionists 
'io  give  him  some  priests  of  his  order,  and  he  brought  out  with 
aim  three  priests  and  one  brother,  who  arrived  at  Pittsburg  on 
the  6th  of  December,  1852. 

The  Institute  of  the  Passionists,  or,  more  properly.  Barefooted 
Clerks  of  the  Most  Holy  Cross  and  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ,  w^as 
founded  by  Paul  Danei,  better  known  as  the  Blessed  Paul  of  the 
Cross,  who  was  born  on  the  3d  of  January,  1694,  at  Ovada,  in 
the  diocese  of  Acqui,  in  the  Republic  of  Genoa.  This  holy  priest 
began  his  first  community  in  1737,  at  Mount  Argentard,  and  on 
the  loth  of  May,  1741,  obtained  of  Pope  Benedict  XIV.  the  con- 
firmation of  his  rule.  The  object  of  Father  Paul  of  the  Cross 
was  to  unite  the  mortified  life  of  the  Trappists  and  Carthusians 
with  the  active  life  of  the  Jesuits  and  Lazarists.  He  w^ished  to 
embrace  at  once  contemplation  and  action  and  devote  himself  to 
the  ministry  of  the  word  in  missions.  His  rule  was  again  con- 
firmed, with  some  modifications,  by  Pope  Clement  XIV.,  in  1760, 
and  by  Pius  VI.  in  1775  ;  and  the  holy  founder,  who  died  at 
Rome  on  the  l7th  of  October,  1775,  was  beatified  by  Pius  IX. 
on  the  1st  of  October,  1852.     The  Institute  of  the  Blessed  Paul 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  299 

of  the  Cross  spread  rapidly,  especially  after  liis  holy  death,  anci  in 
1810  there  existed  in  Italy  many  houses  of  Passionists  called  Riiiri. 
Suppressed  by  the  French  invasion,  they  reorganized  in  1814;  and 
in  1840  made  a  first  establishment  in  England,  at  Aston  Hall, 
Staffordshire,  under  the  patronage  of  Bishop,  now  Cardinal  Wise- 
man. The  Right  Honorable  Lord  Spencer,  converted  from  Prot- 
estantism in  1830,  is  now  the  humble  Father  Ignatius,  Passion 
ist,  and  all  know  the  journeys  he  has  undertaken,  and  the  ardor 
he  displayed  to  form  an  association  of  prayers  for  the  conversion 
of  England.  The  order  is  now  divided  into  five  provinces — 
three  in  Italy,  one  in  England,  and  one  in  Belgium.  On  this 
latter  depend  two  Ritiri  in  France — one  at  Bordeaux,  and  the 
other  at  Boulogne.  The  General  resides  at  Rome,  in  the  house 
of  St.  John  and  St.  Paul,  given  to  the  Passionists  by  Pope 
Clement  XIV. ;  and  they  owe  to  the  munificence  of  Pope  Pius 
IX.  another  house  near  the  Santa  Scala,  of  which  he  has  con- 
fided the  care  to  them.  The  Passionists  number  about  seven 
hundred ;  they  have  missions  and  a  bishop  in  Hungary,  and 
other  missionaries  of  their  order  have  borne  the  Gospel  to  Aus- 
tralia.* 

The  Passionists  established  at  Birmingham,  near  Pittsburg, 
received  in  1854  a  reinforcement  of  two  priests  and  one  brother. 
Tliey  have  opened  a  novitiate,  where  five  clerics  prepare  for  study 
and  the  functions  of  the  priesthood.  Want  of  a  complete  mastery  of 
English  has  hitherto  prevented  their  giving  missions  in  the  dio- 
cese ;  but  they  have  already  been  useful  in  the  ministry,  and  two 
of  them  direct  a  parish  of  three  thousand  German  Catholics  near 
their  Ritiro.     They  are  greatly  enlarging  their  church  and  house, 


*  Tlie  Life  of  the  Blessed  Piiul  of  the  Cross,  founder  of  the  Barefooted 
Clerks  of  the  Most  Holy  Cross  and  Passion.    London,  1853. 

The  author  is  Mousei^nore  Strambi,  who  died  in  the  odor  of  sanctity 
'bishop  of  Macerata  and  Tolentino,  and  who,  before  being  raised  to  the  epis- 
copacy, w^as  Fra  Vincent  de  San  Paolo,  Passiouist. 


300  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

in  order  to  give  retreats  to  ecclesiastics  aud  laics  accordiDg  tb 
their  institute  ;  aud  tlie  adjuuction  of  this  new  religious  order, 
for  which  the  Catholics  of  America  are  indebted  to  the  zeal  oi 
Bishop  O'Connor,  bids  fair  to  realize  in  the  United  States  all  the 
good  which  it  has  produced  for  the  last  fifteen  years  in  Eng- 
land.^' 

The  Bishop  of  Pittsburg,  finding  his  diocese  too  extended,  and 
fearing  that,  with  ail  his  activity,  he  would  be  unable  to  main- 
tain an  efficacious  superintendence,  solicited  the  National  Coun- 
cil of  Baltimore,  in  1852,  to  propose  to  the  Holy  See  the  erec- 
tion of  an  episcopal  See  at  Erie.  The  prelate  even  offered  to 
assume  the  direction  of  the  new  diocese,  aud  there  to  begin  anew 
the  work  of  organization  which  he  had  so  happily  accomplished 
at  Pittsburg.  The  proposal  was  made  at  Rome  ;  and  by  letters 
apostohcal  of  July  29,  1853,  the  Right  Rev.  Michael  O'Connor 
was  transferred  to  the  See  of  Erie,  comprising  the  ten  northwest 
counties  of  Pennsylvania.  At  the  same  time,  the  Rev.  Josue  M 
Young,  Pastor  of  Lancaster,  Ohio,  was  elected  to  the  See  of  Pitts- 
burg. Bishop  O'Connor  at  once  repaired  to  his  new  post ;  but 
the  regret  of  his  former  diocesans  at  his  departure,  and  the  opiu 
ions  of  his  brethren  in  the  episcopacy,  having  reached  Rome, 
he  was  restored  to  the  See  of  Pittsburg,  and  Bishop  Young, 
who  had  declined  it,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Erie  on  the  23d 
of  April,  1854.  On  his  return  to  Pittsburg,  Dr.  O'Connor  bent 
all  his  energy  to  complete  his  Cathedral  building,  to  replace  that 
destroyed  by  a  conflagration  in  1851.  This  misfortune  had  ap- 
parently exhausted  the  bishop's  resources  ;  but,  by  perseverance 
and  confidence  in  God,  he  at  last  reared  a  new  pile,  at  a  cost  ot 
eighty  thousand  dollars.  When  we  consider  the  general  poverty 
of  the  Catholics  of  America,  and  the  frequent  appeals  made  to 


•*  Information  furnished  by  'Rev.  Giovanni  Domenico,  Superior  of  t; 
Eitiro  at  Birmingliam. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  301 

llieir  goner  jsity,  we  can  scarcely  conceive  how  it  was  possible  to 
erect  in  so  short  a  time  a  monument  of  that  importance;  aial 
such  a  result  is  no  less  a  eulogy  on  the  zeal  of  the  bishop,  than 
on  the  munificence  of  his  flock.  The  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul 
held,  at  a  late  mission,  over  eight  thousand  persons,  and  is  the 
most  spacious  church  in  the  United  States.  Its  Gothic  archi- 
tecture reflects  honor  on  the  talented  architect,  Mr.  Cliarles 
Bartberger ;  and  the  ornaments,  statues,  and  stained  glass,  which 
adorn  the  interior,  give  the  nave  all  the  majesty  worthy  of  a 
Christian  people.  It  is  far  from  those  humble  wooden  and  brick 
chapels  which  the  missionaries  build  when  they  can  gather  at 
any  spot  a  little  nucleus  of  Catholics.  It  is  a  real  cathedral  of 
vast  proportions,  such  as  would  not  be  deemed  amiss  in  any  old 
European  city,  and  afibrding  room  for  displaying  in  all  its  pomp 
the  ceremonial  of  the  Church ;  its  lofty  spires  tower  above  tlie 
great  industrial  city  of  Pittsburg,  the  Birmingham  of  America, 
and  seem  to  consecrate  it  to  Catholicity.  In  its  inclosure  the 
Protestant  can  find  place,  when  a  curiosity,  which  is  sometimes 
the  first  sign  of  grace,  draws  him  to  our  churches  to  seek  to  un- 
derstand the  ofiices  and  mysteries.  If,  as  all  admit,  the  Basilica 
of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  has  been  the  instrument  of  convertino- 
many  heretics  or  infidels,  who  entered  it  hostile  or  indiff"erent 
spectators,  all  will  feel  how  useful  it  is  for  religion  to  possess 
some  majestic  shrines  in  the  United  States,  in  order  to  give  sta- 
bility to  the  worship  and  fervor  to  the  faith. 

On  Sunday,  the  24th  of  June,  1855,  the  solemn  dedication  of 
the  Cathedral  at  Pittsburg  took  place  in  presence  of  seventeen 
bishops,  who  came  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States  to  take 
part  in  that  imposing  ceremony. 

The  health  of  Bishop  O'Connor  soon  unfitted  him  for  the 
cares  and  anxieties  of  his  position.  A  softening  of  the  brain, 
attended  with  intense  pain,  was  the  cross  he  was  destined  to 
bear.     In  May,  18G0,  the   Pope  accepted  his  resignation  of  a 


302  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

mitre  whtcli  he  had  sought  to  avoid,  but  had  worn  so  well.  He 
then  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus,  as  he  had  long  desired  to  do, 
and  died,  October  18,  1872. 

The  successor  of  Bishop  O'Connor  was  the  Ut.  Rev.  Michael 
Doraenec,  D.D.,  a  native  of  Spain,  who  was  consecrated  De- 
cember 9,  1860.  He  had  joined  the  American  mission  of  the 
Lazarists  while  studying  for  the  priesthood,  and  was  ordained  at 
Cape  Girardeau,  Missouri.  He  was  for  many  years  pastor  at 
Germantown,  Pa.,  where  he  erected  a  beautiful  church.  As 
bishop  he  was  esteemed  by  all  for  his  energy,  charity,  self- 
devotion,  and  zeal.  On  the  11th  of  January,  1876,  the  Holy 
See,  at  his  request,  divided  the  diocese,  and  created  the  new  See 
of  Allegheny,  to  which  Bishop  Doraenec  was  translated.  On 
the  19th  of  March,  1876,  the  Rev.  John  Tuigg,  long  a  mission- 
ary at  Altoona,  Pa.,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Pittsbura:,  and 
entered  on  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  Endowed  with  great 
administrative  ability,  and  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  he  has  done 
much  to  infuse  order  and  system  into  all  parts  of  his  diocese  ; 
the  disastrous  financial  condition  of  the  country  affecting  many 
churches. 

The  See  of  Allegheny  was  not  long  occupied  by  Bishop 
Domenec.  His  health  failed  ;  and,  appointing  the  Rev.  R. 
riielan  administrator,  he  went  to  Europe.  After  visiting  Rome 
he  resigned  his  see,  and  died  at  Tarragona,  Spain,  February  5th, 
IS 78,  aged  65. 

The  Holy  See  had  already  on  the  3d  of  August,  1877,  ap- 
pointed  Bishop  Tuigg  administrator  of  Allegheny. 

Bishop  Young  established  also  an  hospital  at  Erie,  and  an 
orphan  asylum  at  Meadville,  under  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph, 
who  also  opened  an  academy  in  Erie.  To  provide  for  the 
Christian  education  of  youth  he  began  a  convenient  and  attrac- 
tive school  building,  where  learning  could  be  acquired  freely. 

During  his  episcopate  he  increased  the  churchesof  his  diocese 


IN-  THE  UNITED  STATES.  303 

greatly.     He  found  twenty-eiglit  cliurches  and  fourteen  priests, 
he  left  more  than  fifty  churches,  attended  by  as  many  clergymen. 

His  heallh  had  been  for  some  years  frail,  but  he  continued  to 
discharge  his  duties  and  say  mass  daily.  On  the  18th  of  Sep- 
tember, 18(30,  he  offered  the  Holy  Sacrifice,  and  received  many 
clergymen  who  called  on  business  of  the  diocese  ;  in  the  evening 
a  young  priest  in  an  adjoining  room  heard  an  unusual  sound, 
and,  hastening  in,  found  Bishop  Young  stricken  by  the  hand  of 
death ;  he  was  still  conscious,  and,  after  receiving  the  final 
absolution,  and  the  sacrament  of  Extreme  Unction,  expired. 

Bishop  Young  was  a  native  of  Shapleigh,  Maine,  born  Oc- 
tober 29,  1808,  of  the  sternest  old  New  England  stock.  His 
conversion  was  due  to  the  piety  and  consistency  of  a  Catholic 
fellow-apprentice  in  the  printing-office  where  they  worked. 
Young  found  his  usual  stock  of  objections  to  Catholicity  met 
and  explained  by  one  whose  Christian  life  lie  respected  :  he 
began  to  examine;  was  received  into  the  Church,  and,  for  some 
years  remained  a  printer,  working  at  last  in  the  oftice  of  the 
"  Catholic  Telegraph,"  Cincinnati.  His  zeal  as  a  catechist  in- 
duced Bishop  Purcell  to  urge  him  to  study  for  the  priesthood. 
He  was  ordained  in  1837,  and  labored  chiefly  at  Lancaster,  Ohio. 

On  his  death  the  Diocese  of  Erie  was  administered  by  the 
Very  Rev.  J.  D.  Coady,  till  the  appointment  of  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Tobias  Mullen,  who  was  consecrated  August  2d,  1868.  The 
new  bishop  gave  his  whole  energy  to  the  creation  and  develop- 
ment of  parochial  schools,  so  that,  in  1878,  there  were,  for  a 
Catholic  })opulation  of  45,000,  twenty-two  parochial  schools, 
containing  5,000  pupils,  with  nine  academies  under  religious 
communities  ;  he  also  inti'oduced  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  to  do 
their  manifold  work  of  good.  By  the  year  1878,  the  number  of 
priests  had  risen  from  35  to  61.  and  churches  from  65  to  81. 

The  city  of  Erie,  situated  on  the  shore  of  the  lake  of  the 
same  name,  recalling  an  Indian  tribe  which  has  long  since  been 


304  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

swept  away,  is  built  on  tlie  site  of  the  old  Frencli  fort  Presqii  'ile, 
and  in  1755,  as  Frencli  annals  state,  tliis  fort  had  as  chaplain 
the  Recollect,  Father  Luke  Collet.  It  was  then  only  a  military 
post,  and  colonization  does  not  appear  to  have  entered  there  till 
the  close  of  the  century.  The  first  missionary  who  seems  to 
have  exercised  the  ministry  among  the  Irish  immigrants  at  Erie 
and  thereabouts,  was  the  Rev.  Father  Whelan,  who  took  up  his 
residence  at  Sugar  Creek  about  the  time  of  the  suit  against  Mr. 
Fromm.  His  visit  to  Erie  took  place  about  1807.  We  know  of 
no  other  missionary  there  till  Father  William  O'Brien,  a  native 
of  Maryland  and  pupil  of  Georgetown,  who  had  been  ordained 
in  1808,  repaired  thither  in  1815.  The  Rev.  Charles  B. 
Maguire,  of  Pittsburg,  held  some  stations  there  in  1816  and 
1817,  after  whom  the  Rev.  Terence  McGirr  came  to  Erie  three 
times  from  1818  to  1821  to  administer  the  sacraments.  The 
Rev.  Patrick  O'Neil  was  then  appointed  to  serve  Erie  at  long 
intervals,  and  his  last  visit  took  place  in  1830.  The  Rev.  Fran- 
cis Masquelet,  an  Alsacian  priest,  showed  himself  several  times  at 
Erie  from  1834  to  1836,  and  the  Rev.  Patrick  Rafferty,  the 
author  of  a  small  history  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  was 
there  in  1837.  Till  this  period  the  city  was  too  unimportant, 
and  the  missionaries  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  too  few  to  ena- 
ble Erie  to  have  one  permanently  stationed  there.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  McCabe  resided  there  from  1838  to  1840,  and  the  following 
year  Father  J.  Lewis,  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis,  wa-s  appointed 
to  take  charge  of  the  German  population  who  had  begun  to 
settle  at  Erie.  This  was  the  epoch  of  the  erection  of  the  t  vto 
little  wooden  churches,  one  for  the  Irish  and  American,  the 
other  for  the  German  Catholics.  Since  then  both  have  beei> 
rebuilt  of  brick,  and  of  more  enlarged  dimensions,  and  they  are 
opened  to  worship,  although  their  exteriors  are  not  finished  :  St. 
Patrick's  Church,  which  now  serves  as  a  Cathedral,  has  had 
successively  as  pastors  the  Rev.  P.  Prend^rgast,  R.  Brown;  T. 


II^-  THE  UI^ITED  STATES.  305 

S.  Reynolds  and  Dean  ;  and  the  German  Clinrcli  of  St.  Mary's 
has  been  served  by  the  Rev.  P.  Kleidernani,  N.  Steinbaclier,  and 
F.  J.  Hartnian.  The  patriarchal  Catholic  family  of  Erie  is  that 
of  Mrs.  Dickson,  who  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  as 
soon  as  a  priest  appeared  on  the  shores  of  the  lake,  received  the 
missionaries  under  her  roof,  showed  them  the  most  cordial  hos- 
pitality, and  has  always  generously  contributed  to  the  erection 
of  the  churches  and  the  support  of  the  clergy.  The  venerable 
Mrs.  Dickson,  who  is  still  alive,  is  of  the  Gillespie  family  at 
Brownsville,  noted  for  its  devotedness  to  religion  from  the 
introduction  of  Catholicity  into  Ohio  and  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

It  has  been  said  that  Erie  was  pointed  out  by  the  venerable 
Bishop  Flaget  as  a  suitable  See  for  a  diocese,  and  we  read  in  the 
Annals  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith :  "  When  we  trace  this 
journey  of  over  two  thousand  miles,  we  might  say  that  wherever 
Bishop  Flaget  pitched  his  tent  he  lays  the  foundation  of  a  new 
church,  and  that  every  one  of  his  chief  resting-places  has  been 
raised  to  a  bishopric.  St.  Louis,  in  Missouri ;  Detroit,  in  Mich- 
igan ;  Cincinnati,  capital  of  Ohio;  Erie  and  Buffalo,  on  the 
lakes;  Pittsburg,  which  he  evangelized  on  his  way  back  to 
Louisville,  after  thirteen  months'  absence,  after  giving  missions 
wherever  he  found  a  town  of  whites,  a  plantation  of  slaves,  or  a 
village  of  Indians."* 

Erie  was  not,  however,  a  bishop's  See  in  1850  :  it  became  so 
only  in  1853,  and  we  deem  it  very  doubtful  whether  Bishop 
F'aget  over  passed  through  that  city.  In  his  journey  to  Canada^ 
the  venerable  bishop  traversed  Lake  Erie  from  Detroit  to 
Niagara  in  a  sailing  vessel.  Erie  was  then  too  unimportant  a 
spot  for  a  vessel  to  stop  at,  and  if  Bishop  Flaget  landed  for  a 
few  hours,  he  certainly  did  not  officiate  or  perform  any  ecclesi- 


306  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

astical  function,  although  we  confess  he  may  have  passed  through 
in  1836.  We  accordingly  do  not  think  thai  the  proposal  of 
Erie  for  a  See  dates  prior  to  1852. 

lu  1855  this  diocese  contained  thirty-two  churches  and  sixteen 
ecclesiastics,  and  the  Catholic  population  is  estimated  at  thir- 
teen thousand.  Two  of  the  Benedictine  monasteries  of  Penn- 
sylvania, those  of  St.  Marystown  and  Frenchville,  are  situated 
in  the  diocese  of  Erie,  and  in  1853  there  was  established  also  at 
St.  Mary's  a  convent  of  Benedictine  nuns  from  the  celebrated 
monastery  of  St.  Walburga,  at  Eichstadt,  in  Bavaria.  In  1855, 
Sister  Benedicta  Reipp  was  the  Mother  Superior,  with  five  pro- 
fessed sisters  and  sixteen  novices.  The  Benedictine  nuns  devote 
themselves  to  the  education  of  girls,  and  direct  the  parish  schools, 
but  they  are  preparing  to  open  a  boarding-school,  in  order  to  give 
superior  instruction  to  young  ladies,  and  their  cultivated  manners 
admirably  fit  them  for  the  highest  sphere  of  education. 

The  convent  of  St.  Walburga,  at  Eichstadt,  dates  as  far  back 
as  the  year  1022,  and  was  begun  in  that  year  by  Bishop  Her- 
bert, who  made  the  convent  grants  of  land.  From  age  to  age, 
new  benefactors  increased  the  property  of  the  Benedictines,  so 
that  at  the  secularization,  the  spoliators  found  a  rich  spoil  to 
divide  in  the  charity  of  the  faithfal.  The  monastery  was  then 
almost  entirely  destroyed.  By  the  intercession,  however,  o^"  the 
Bishop  of  Eichstadt,  Joseph  Anthony,  Count  of  Stribenberg,  the 
nuns  obtained  permission  to  dw^ell  in  community  till  a  royal 
decree  of  June  Vth,  1835,  permitted  them  to  receive  novices,  and 
gave  new  life  to  the  monastery.  St.  Walburga,  patroness  of  tho 
Bavarian  Benedictine  nuns,  is  honored  in  some  parts  of  France 
by  the  name  of  Saint  Avaugour.  Daughter  of  Sto  Richard, 
king  of  the  West  Saxons  in  England,  and  sister  of  Sts.  Willibald 
and  Winibald,  she  w^as  at  an  early  age  placed  in  the  Benedictine 
convent  of  Winburn,  when  her  father  and  brothers  set  out  on 
their  pilgrimage  for  Rome  and  Jerusalem.     In  748,  her  uncle, 


IIT  THE  UKITED  STATES.  307 

Si.  Boniface,  Archbishop  of  Mentz,  invited  lier  to  join  liim  in 
Germany,  and  notwithstanding  her  disinclination  to  leave  AVin- 
burn,  where  she  had  spent  twenty-eight  happy  years  of  her  life, 
she  set  out  with  thirty  of  her  companions.  She  soon  became 
Superioress  of  the  convent  of  Ileidenheim,  built  in  752."^'  Her 
two  brothers  were  also  called  over  to  Germany  by  St.  Boniface, 
and  Willibald  became  first  Bishop  of  Eichstadt,  in  Bavaria. 
This  royal  family  of  saints  issuing  from  England  to  convert 
Germany,  doubtless  now  protects  the  Benedictine  efforts  in 
America,  and  we  hope  ere  long  that  churches  will  rise  in  Penn- 
sylvania under  the  name  of  St.  Walburga,  the  noble  princess, 
self-exiled,  like  the  Bavarian  nuns  of  St.  Benedict,  in  order  to 
devote  herself  afar  to  the  salvation  of  souls. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

STATE    OF    NEAV    YORK (1642-1708). 

Missions  among  the  Iroquois — Father  Jogues — Father  Bressani — Father  Le  Moyne— 
Emigration  of  Christians  to  Canada— Close  of  the  Jesuit  Missions  in  New  York. 

When  the  Jesuit  Father  Andrew  White  landed  in  Maryland 
in  1634  with  the  colony  of  Sir  George  Calvert,  the  Dutch  were 
already  planted  on  that  part  of  the  American  coast  now  com^ 
prised  in  the  State  of  New  York ;  but  the  English  missionaries 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  too  few  to  meet  the  religious  wants 
of  Maryland,  did  not  seek  to  penetrate  within  the  borders  of 
N'ew  Netherland,  and  the  first  Catholic  priests  who  trod  its  soil 
were  the  French  Jesuits  from  Canada.  In  1608  the  English 
captain,  Henry  Hudson,  sailing  in  the  service  of  the  Dutch  AVest 
India  Company,  discovered  New  York  Bay  and  the  beautiful 
vixer  which  still  bears  his  name.     The  same  year,  Samuel  Chair. 

*  Faber— Lr-es  of  the  English  Saints  :  London,  1844  ;  Butler's  L  ves  (A 
vhe  Saints. 


308  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

plain,  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  France,  founded  Quebec,  and 
in  1615  brought  over  some  Recollects  to  labor  in  converting  the 
Indians.  The  Algonquins,  the  Montagnais,  and  the  Hurons, 
were  soon  evangelized  by  these  religious,  as  well  as  by  the  Jesuits 
who  joined  them  in  1625.  The  Hurons  from  the  outset  sbowed 
a  friendship  for  the  French,  which  has  never  cooled ;  and  the 
colonists  of  Canada  became  by  this  simple  fact  the  enemies  of 
the  five  Iroquois  nations  who  dwelt  scattered  over  the  northern 
part  of  the  present  State  of  New  York,  between  the  Hudson  and 
Lake  Erie.  The  Iroquois,  continually  at  war  with  the  Hurons, 
constantly  bore  off  prisoners,  whom  they  tortured  to  death,  and 
in  the  same  way  a  priest  was  dragged  in  captivity  to  the  banks 
of  the  Mohawk,  in  the  very  neighborhood  of  where  Albany  now 
stands. 

In  1642  Father  Isaac  Jogues  was  proceeding  from  Quebec  to 
the  Huron  country,  where  he  had  devoted  himself  to  the  mission 
for  over  six  years,  when  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  party  of  Iro- 
quois as  he  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence.  These  Indians  led  him 
a  captive  to  their  village  with  young  Rene  Goupil,  a  holy  young 
man,  who  had  devoted  himself  to  the  service  of  the  missions,  and 
who  was  called  from  this  fact  a  "  donne."  The  brave  Goupil, 
after  courageously  enduring  the  most  cruel  tortures,  was  put  to 
death  for  having  been  seen  teaching  a  child  to  make  the  sign  of 
the  cross.*  As  to  Father  Jogues,  he  remained  for  fifteen  months 
among  the  Mohawks,  and  had  daily  new  martyrdoms  to  undergo 
at  the  hands  of  those  savages.     They  successively  cut  off,  joint 


*  Rene  Goupil,  or  Good  Rene,  as  the  missionaries  called  him,  was  born  at 
Anglers,  and  studied  medicine.  He  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus  as  a 
novice,  but  his  healtli  did  not  permit  him  to  remain.  On  recovering,  he  gave 
hiniself  to  the  Canada  mission,  and  rendered  great  service  by  nursing  the 
Bick  and  in  aiding  the  Fathers  as  a  catechist.  He  w^as  put  to  death  on  the 
29th  of  September,  1642,  and  Father  Jogues  calls  him  "  A  martyr  not  only 
of  obedience,  but  also  of  the  faith  and  the  cross."  (Shea's  History  of  tha 
Catholic  Missions,  p.  210.) 


IK   THE   UN"ITED    STATES.  309 

by  joint,  almost  all  his  fingers  on  both  hands ;  they  mutilated  in 
the  same  way  his  feet  by  tearing  the  very  flesh  with  their  teeth, 
and  appHed  red-hot  irons  to  ditierent  parts  of  his  body.  The 
Jesuit  had  several  opportunities  of  escaping  to  the  Dutch  Fort 
Orange,  now  the  city  of  Albany ;  but  as  long  as  he  had  around 
him  Huron  prisoners  to  assist  in  their  torments,  he  would  not 
escape  from  his  tortures.  At  last  Father  Jogues,  being  left 
almost  the  sole  survivor  of  the  band,  listened  to  the  generous 
proposals  of  the  Dutch,  who  paid  his  ransom  after  he  had  escaped 
from  the  hands  of  the  Mohawks.  The  Dutch  minister  at  Fort 
Orange,  Dominie  John  Megapolensis,  nursed  the  missionary  with 
touching  compassion.  At  New  Amsterdam,  now  New  York, 
Governor  Kieft  received  Father  Jogues  with  marks  of  distinction, 
and  gave  him  a  passage  in  the  first  vessel  for  Europe ;  but  the 
vessel,  shattered  by  a  storm  on  the  coast  of  England,  was  plun- 
dered by  wreckers,  who  stripped  the  Jesuit  and  his  companions. 
At  Falmouth  he  took  passage  on  a  collier's  bark,  and  landed  in 
Brittany,  near  St.  Pol  de  Leon,  on  Christmas-day,  1643. 

In  a  rude  sailor's  coat,  dragging  himself  along  with  pain,  lean- 
ing on  a  staff",  the  venerable  Jesuit  was  no  longer  recognized. 
Hospitality  was  no  less  cordially  extended  to  him  in  a  peasant's 
humble  cot ;  here  he  was  invited  to  share  their  morning  meal, 
but  the  missionary's  only  thought  was  to  celebrate  duly  the  fes- 
tival by  receiving  the  Eucharist,  and  he  had  the  nearest  church 
pointed  out  to  him,  where  he  had  the  happiness  of  approaching  the 
altar.  For  sixteen  months  the  pious  religious  had  been  deprived 
of  communion.  The  good  Bretons  lent  him  a  hat  and  a  little  cloak 
to  appear  more  decently  in  church.  They  thought  him  to  bo 
one  of  those  unfortunate  children  of  Catholic  Erin  whom  persecu- ' 
tion  frequently  drove  to  the  shores  of  France ;  but  when,  on  his 
return  from  Mass,  his  charitable  hosts  saw  the  horrible  condi- 
tion of  his  hands,  Father  Jogues  was  compelled  to  satisfy  their 
pious  curiosity  by  relating  modestly  his  history,  and  the  peasant* 


310  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

of  Leon  fell  at  his  feet  overwhelmed  with  j^ity  and  admiration. 
He  himself  relates  how  the  young  girls,  moved  by  his  account  of 
his  misfortunes,  gave  him  their  little  alms.  "  They  came,"  says 
he,  "  with  so  much  generosity  and  modesty  to  offer  me  two  or 
three  pence,  which  was  probably  all  their  treasure,  that  I  was 
moved  to  tears."  A  native  of  the  spot  where  this  touching  scene 
took  place,  we  hope  to  be  pardoned  for  relating  it  at  length. 

Father  Jogues  did  not  employ  his  captivity  solely  in  his  own 
sanctification ;  he  celebrated  seventy  baptisms  among  the  Mo- 
hawks, and  heard  the  confessions  of  the  Huron  prisoners.  At 
N'ew  Amsterdam  he  found  two  Catholics — a  Portuguese  woman 
and  an  L'ishman — whose  confessions  he  heard,  and  it  was  the 
first  time  that  the  sacrament  of  penance  was  administered  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  which  now  contains  twenty-three  Catholic 
churches.  In  France  the  fellow-religious  of  Father  Jogues,  who 
had  supposed  him  dead,  received  him  with  transports  of  joy  ;  the 
queen,  Anne  of  Austria,  rushed  to  kiss  the  mutilated  hands  of  the 
martyr,  and  the  Pope  granted  him  a  special  dispensation  to  cele- 
brate Mass,  saying  "that  it  would  be  unjust  to  refuse  a  martyr  ot 
Jesus  Christ  the  privilege  of  drinking  the  blood  of  Christ" — "  in- 
dignum  esset  Christi  martyrem  Christi  non  bibere  sanguinem."* 
They  wished  to  retain  him  in  France,  but  Father  Jogues  sighed 
after  his  American  missions,  and  returned  to  Canada  in  1645. 
He  took  part  in  the  negotiations  for  peace  between  the  Hurons 
and  the  Mohawks,  and  conceived  great  hopes  of  converting  the 
Five  Nations.  He  was  accordingly,  at  his  own  request,  sent  to 
the  Mohawks — the  Agniers  of  the  Canadian  writers — to  found  a 
mission ;  but  scarcely  had  he  approached  their  village  than  he 


*  Father  Jogues  landed  in  Brittany  on  the  25th  of  December,  1643.  Pope 
Urban  VIII.  died  on  the  7th  of  July,  1644,  and  Pope  Innocent  X.  was  elected 
on  the  18th  of  September,  1644.  It  was,  therefore,  in  all  probability,  Urban 
VIII.  who  granted  Father  Jogues  the  glorious  dispensation  lendered  neces 
Bary  by  his  mutilation. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  311 

ivas  treacherously  seized,  together  with  John  Lalande,  his  faithfui 
conipaniou,  and  the  next  day  both  received  the  mortal  blow, 
The  head  of  Father  Jogues,  severed  from  the  body,  was  set  uy 
on  one  of  the  village  palisades,  and  his  body  cast  into  Caughna- 
waga  Creek.  Thus,  on  the  18th  of  October,  1646,  perished  the 
first  missionary  who  bore  the  cross  within  the  territory  of  New 
York,  and  his  blood  has  not  been  shed  in  vain  for  the  faith.  New 
Amsterdam,  where  Father  Jogues  found  two  Catholics,  is  now 
the  See  of  an  archbishop ;  Albany  is  a  bishopric ;  and  near  the 
spot  where  he  received  his  death-blow  rises  the  city  of  Schenec- 
tady, where  St.  Mary's  Church  daily  sees  the  Holy  Sacrifice 
offered  to  heaven  for  the  salvation  of  mankind.* 

Before  the  death  of  Father  Jogues,  another  missionary  was 
dragged  into  Mohawk  bondage.  This  was  Father  Bressani,  who 
likewise,  on  his  way  to  the  Huron  country,  in  the  month  of  April, 
1644,  fell  into  the  hands  of  these  savage  enemies.  He  had  to 
undergo  the  same  torments  from  those  barbai'ous  executioners, 
who  cut  off  nine  of  his  ten  fingers,  and  after  four  months  of  tor- 
ment of  every  kind,  sold  him  to  the  Dutch  at  Fort  Orange.  They 
treated  him  kindly,  and  sent  him  to  France.  Father  Bressani 
landed  at  Isle  Pihe,  but  returned  to  Canada  in  the  month  of 
July,  1645,  and  labored  for  five  years  more  among  the  Hurons, 
till  the  extinction  of  the  Huron  mission.  He  wrote  a  history  of 
it  in  Italian,!  and  we  know  nothing  more  fitted  to  melt  the 


*  Isaac  Jogues  was  born  at  Orleans  on  the  10th  of  January,  1607.  He  en- 
tered the  Society  of  Jesus  at  Rouen  in  1624,  and  was  sent  to  Canada  in  1626. 
In  love  of  sufFerincr,  tender  piety  to  the  Holy  Eucharist  and  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, he  has  seldom  been  surpassed. 

+  "Breve  relatione  d'alcuni  Missione,"  etc.,  printed  at  Mncerata,  States  of 
the  Church,  in  1653,  and  dedicated  to  Cardinal  de  Lugo.  A  Frencli  transla- 
tion of  it,  with  a  valuable  biography  and  notes,  was  published  at  Montreal  in 
1852,  by  the  learned  Father  Felix  Martin,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  President 
of  St.  Mary's  College.  Father  Bressani  was  born  at  Kome,  and  entered  the 
Society  of  Jesus  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  He  came  to  Canada  in  1644,  and  on 
his  recall  to  Italy  in  1650,  devoted  many  years  to  giving  missions.    He  died 


S12  THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

heai-t  of  a  Christian,  to  excite  piety,  and  animate  the  fervor  by 
the  recital  of  the  touching  conversion  of  the  Indians,  and  by  the 
acts  of  the  martyrdom  of  their  holy  apostles.  We  seem  to  recog- 
nize the  scenes  of  the  primitive  Church,  beholding  on  one  side 
so  much  purity,  simple  and  trusting  faith  in  the  catechumens; 
on  the  other,  so  much  courage  and  unshaken  firmness  in  the 
missionaries  when  the  Iroquois  burst  upon  them.  We  even  feel 
ourselves  more  sensible  to  the  sufferings  of  our  modern  martyrs, 
Brebeuf,  Lalemand,  Daniel,  Chabanel,  Menard,  than  we  are  to 
the  torments  of  a  St.  Bartholomew  or  St.  Ao-atha.  For  the 
latter,  the  halo  of  immortal  glory  which  environs  them,  the 
difference  of  manners,  and  the  remote  period  which  witnessed 
their  labors  and  sufferings,  prevent  our  being  especially  touched ; 
but  human  nature  shudders  at  the  torments  endured  without  a 
murmur  and  without  shrinking  by  victims  so  near  our  own  times, 
speaking  our  own  language,  whose  handwriting  and  memorials 
we  can  yet  touch  and  handle. 

The  massacre  of  Father  Jogues  in  1646  was  the  signal  of  new 
wars  on  the  part  of  the  Iroquois,  and  their  war  parties  overspread 
Canada,  sowing  desolation  and  terror  around  them.  In  1653 
Quebec  was  in  a  manner  besieged  by  these  Indians,  and  the 
wretched  inhabitants  were  menaced  by  famine,  not  daring  to 
venture  beyond  the  fort  to  reap  their  harvest.  At  the  sight  of 
this  misery  one  of  the  Jesuits,  Father  Poncet,  encouraged  some 
harvesters  to  go  to  the  field  of  a  poor  woman,  himself  leading  the 
way ;  but  he  was  at  once  taken  prisoner  by  the  Mohawks,  who 
led  him  to  their  villages,  subjecting  him  to  cruel  tortures.  A 
change  in  the  policy  of  the  Mohawks,  however,  soon  led  them  to 
desire  peace  with  the  Fi-ench,  and  they  restored  Father  Poncet  to 
liberty  in  order  to  conciliate  the  missionary.     The  latter  returned 

at  Florence  on  the  9th  of  September,  1672.  During  his  captivity  he  was 
able  to  baptize  only  one— a  captive  Huron  at  the  stake.  (Shea's  Catholic 
Missions,  pp.  193-212.) 


Iiq"   THE   UNITED   STATES.  313 

to  Canada,  after  visiting  the  Dutch  at  Fort  Orange,  where  h( 
heard  the  confession  of  several  Cathohcs.  Father  Joseph  An- 
thony Poncet  de  la  Riviere,  born  at  Paris  about  1610,  studied  at 
Rome,  and  came  to  Canada  in  1639.  After  preaching  the  Gos- 
pel to  the  Hiirons  for  six  years,  and  being  long  pastor  of  Quebec, 
he  was  recalled  to  France  in  1657,  and  resided  for  some  time  in 
Brittany.  We  find  him  next  at  Loretto,  Penitentiary  of  the 
French ;  but  his  zeal  could  not  endure  this  sedentary  life,  and 
Father  Poncet  obtained  an  appointment  to  the  mission  of  Mar- 
tinique, where  he  died  in  1675,  leaving  a  remarkable  reputation 
for  science,  talents,  and  sanctity. 

Another  Iroquois  nation,  the  Onondagas,*  also  asked  peace  at 
this  period,  expressing  their  desire  to  have  missionaries.  To 
judge  of  their  dispositions,  Father  Simon  le  Moyne  left  Quebec 
for  their  canton  on  the  2d  of  July,  1654.  Arriving  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Oswego  river,  he  ascended  it  to  the  Onondaga  village,  and 
was  welcomed  by  the  tribe.  His  presence  especially  filled  with 
joy  the  numerous  Huron  Christians  captive  among  the  Iro<][uois, 
and  all  recognized  in  him  one  of  their  former  missionaries. 
Father  le  Moyne  enabled  many  of  these  poor  exiles  to  partake 
of  the  sacraments ;  he  baptized  children,  and  even  adults,  who 
had  been  prepared  for  this  grace  by  their  Huron  prisoners. 
Achiongeras,  one  of  the  chiefs,  was  the  most  zealous  of  the  neo- 
phytes, and  received  the  name  of  John  Baptist.  In  the  month 
of  September  Father  le  Moyne  returned  to  Quebec  to  give  an 
account  of  the  hopes  of  the  mission,  and  announcing  the  speedy 
coming  of  an  Onondaga  embassy.  But  the  war  which  the  Fries 
were  waging  on  them  delayed  the  departure  of  the  Onondaga 
envoys,  who  reached  Quebec  in  the  summer  of  1655.     Their 


*  The  Five  Nations  of  Iroquois  have  left  their  names  in  the  State  of  New 
York — in  the  Mohawk  river,  and  the  lakes  and  counties  of  Oneida,  Onon- 
daga, Cayuga,  and  Seneca,  which  will  perpetuate  tlie  residence  of  those 
clans  and  the  labors  of  the  Catholic  missionaries. 

14 


314:  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

good  dispositions  and  promises  excited  the  confidence  of  the 
Jesuit  Superior,  and  he  appointed  Father  Claude  Dablon  and 
Peter  Chaumonot'*^  to  found  a  permanent  mission  on  the  banks 
of  the  lake  where  the  city  of  Syracuse  now  rises.  On  the  18th 
of  November,  1655,  they  began  the  construction  of  St.  Mary's 
Chapel,  the  first  church  where  the  Holy  Sacrifice  Avas  ever  offered 
in  the  State  of  New  York.  The  Indians  cheerfully  aided  in  rais- 
ing this  sylvan  shrine,  and  schools  were  soon  opened  at  Onon- 
daga, where  whole  choirs  of  girls  were  trained  to  chant  the 
hymns  of  Christianity.  Meanwhile,  as  the  nation  desired  a 
French  colony  to  protect  them  against  the  Eries,  Father  Dablon 
returned  to  Quebec  in  May,  1656,  to  make  known  to  the  gov- 
ernor the  dispositions  of  the  Indians. 

The  recital  of  the  missionary  produced  a  great  impression,  and 
on  the  iVth  of  May,  1656,  he  set  out  again  for  Onondaga,  with 
Fathers  le  Mercier  and  Rene  Menard,f  and  Brothers  Ambrose 
Broar  and  Joseph  Boursier.  Captain  Dupuis,  with  some  soldiers, 
formed  part  of  the  convoy,  and  were  sent  to  build  a  fort  near  the 
Jesuit  mission.     Onondaga  then  became  the  centre  of  the  labors 


*  Claude  Dablon  came  to  Canada  in  1655.  In  1661  he  accompanied  Father 
Druillettes  in  his  overland  expedition  to  Hudson's  Bay.  In  1668  he  was 
on  Lake  Superior  with  Father  Marquette,  and  became  Superior  of  all  the 
missions  in  1670.     He  was  still  alive  in  1694. 

Peter  Mary  Joseph  Chaumonot,  born  in  1611,  near  Chatillon-sur-Seine, 
entered  the  Society  of  Jesus  at  Rome  in  1632.  He  came  to  Canada  in  1639, 
and  was  sent  to  the  Huron  mission,  where  he  remained  till  1650.  He  died 
at  Isle  Orleans,  near  Quebec,  in  1693.     (Shea's  Catholic  Missions,  pp.  98-241.) 

*  Father  Francis  le  Mercier  arrived  in  Canada  in  1635,  and  was  connected 
■  with  the  Huron  mission  till  its  ruin  in  1650.     He  was  still  in  Canada  in  1670, 

but  subsequently  went  to  the  West  Indies,  where  he  died  in  the  odor  of 
sanctity. 

Father  Rene  Menard,  born  in  1G14,  in  France,  came  to  Canada  in  1640, 
labored  among  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins,  and  died  of  hunger  or  exhaus- 
tion in  the  woods  of  Upper  Michigan  in  August,  1661. 

Father  Paul  Ragueneau,  born  at  Paris  in  1605,  arrived  in  Canada  in  1636. 
After  being  attached  to  the  Huron  mission  and  being  Superior  at  Quebec,  he 
returned  to  Paris  to  fill  the  post  of  Procurator,  and  died  in  1680. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  315 

of  tlie  Fathers.  The  Cayugas,  Oneidas,  and  Senecas  were  in 
turn  ev^angehzed,  and  conversions  everywhere  rewarded  the  mis- 
sionaries for  their  toil,  at  the  same  time  that  Huron  prisoners, 
scattered  among  tlje  tribes,  received  with  joy  the  consolations  of 
religion.  In  the  month  of  July,  1657,  two  more  Jesuits  camo 
from  Quebec  to  aid  the  Fathers,  who  were  pinking  under  their 
toil.  These  were  Father  Paul  Ragueneau  and  Father  Francis 
Duperon.*  But  a  change  was  soon  perceived  in  the  dispositions 
of  the  heathen  Iroquois,  who  still  formed  the  great  majority. 
Their  medicine  men  persuaded  them  that  baptism  destroyed 
their  children,  and  a  plot  was  formed  to  cut  off  all  the  French. 
Warned  in  time,  the  missionaries  resolved  to  escape  from  their 
butchers,  and  on  the  20th  of  March,  1658,  after  giving  a  ban- 
quet to  the  tribe  to  lull  their  vigilance,  the  French  escaped  by 
night  in  boats  and  canoes  which  they  had  secretly  prepared,  and 
hastened  to  Canada  as  their  only  shelter  from  Indian  massacre. 
Thus  ended,  after  an  existence  of  three  years,  the  first  Onondaga 
mission,  and  we  shall  soon  see  it  arise  again  and  produce  new 
fruits  of  benediction. 

Father  Simon  le  Moyne  had  visited  the  Mohawks  in  the 
month  of  April,  1655,  and  after  imparting  the  sacraments  to  the 
captive  Hurons,  he  had  continued  his  journey  to  Fort  Orange  and 
New  Amsterdam,  where  the  crews  of  two  French  ships  had 
recourse  to  his  ministry.  During  the  next  two  years,  Le  Moyne 
again  braved  the  perfidious  cruelty  of  the  Mohawks.  Constantly 
menaced  with  death,  constantly  baffling  the  plots  formed  against 
his  life,  he  never  lost  courage  in  his  labors  among  the  captives, 
and  flattered  himself  with  being  able  to  smooth  the  way  for  a 
sedentary  mission.  But  in  the  month  of  August,  1657,  he  was 
retained  captive  by  the  tribe,  and  would  have  had  the  glory  of 
martyrdom  had  not  the  Governor  of  Canada,  D'Ailleboust,  seized 

*  Father  Francis  Duperou  arrived  in  Canada  in  1638,  and  died  at  Cham- 
bly,  November  10,  1665. 


316  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

all  the  Iroquois  in  Canada  as  hostages.  Restoitd  to  liberty 
in  the  month  of  May,  1658,  Father  le  Moyne  returned  to  Mon« 
treal,  and  during  the  next  two  years  the  Five  Nations  carried  on 
a  most  furious  war  against  the  French  in  Canad«\  and  their  allies, 
The  Onondagas  were  the  first  to  ask  for  peace,  thanks  to  the 
influence  exercised  over  them  by  the  chieftain  Garacontie,  the 
friend  of  the  missionaries.  He  saved  from  death  all  the  French 
captives  whom  he  could  rescue  from  the  stake ;  he  had  preserved 
intact  the  chapel  of  St.  Mary's,  and  permitted  the  Huron  prison- 
ers to  assemble  there  to  chant  hymns  and  recite  their  beads.  In 
1660  a  peaceful  embassy  sent  by  Garacontie  arrived  at  Montreal, 
and  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  opening,  the  unwearied  Father  le 
Moyne  set  out  for  the  Onondaga  country,  where  he  concluded 
peace  with  the  tribe.  He  profited  by  his  short  stay  to  baptize  two 
hundred  children,  and  returned  to  Montreal  in  the  month  of  August, 
1661.  This  was  his  last  missionary  excursion  to  the  land  of  the 
Iroquois.  He  died  at  Cap  de  la  Madeleine  in  1665,  and  must 
deserve  our  veneration  as  the  successor  of  the  martyred  Jogues, 
the  first  missionary  who  of  his  free  choice  proceeded  to  the  wig- 
wams of  the  terrible  Mohawks.  In  spite  of  the  praiseworthy 
eftbrts  of  Garacontie,  war  continued  t»  ravage  the  fields  of  Can- 
ada, and  it  was  only  on  the  31st  of  August,  1666,  that  peace 
was  signed  at  Quebec,  with  all  the  nations  except  the  Mohawk, 
ever  sullen  as  the  bear,  whose  name  he  bore.  But  now  isolated, 
this  tribe  was  vigorously  chastised  in  a  campaign  which  the 
Viceroy  de  Tracy  made  against  them,  and  they  at  last  agreed  to 
ay  down  their  arms,  asking  for  missionaries. 

The  Jesuits,  who  awaited  this  moment  with  a  holy  impatience, 
hastened  to  respond  to  the  call  of  the  Iroquois,  and  in  the  moutlj 
of  July,  1667,  Fathers  Fremin,  Bruyas,  and  Pierron  left  Canada 
for  the  Mohawk  country.  The  last  was  soon  left  alone,  while  his 
associates  proceeded  to  the  more  westerly  cantons;  but  in  1668 
Father  Francis  Boniface  came  to  second  Father  Pierron,  and 


IK  THE    UNITED   STATES  817 

conversions  became  so  frequent  among  the  terrible  Mohawks — re 
aliziug  a  vision  of  Father  Jogues,  in  ^vhicll  he  saw  the  words 
"Laudent  nomen  Agni" — that  Father  Thierry  Beschefer  and 
Father  Louis  Nicolas  were  sent  to  their  assistance.  At  this 
epoch  Father  Julian  Garnier  was  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the 
Ouondagas.  Father  Stephen  de  Carheil  was  among  the  Cayugas, 
where  he  built  the  chapel  of  St.  Joseph.  Father  Bruyas  had 
his  residence  among  the  Oneidas,  and  Father  Pierron  among 
the  Senecas,  while  Fathers  Milet  and  Fremin  repaired  from  town 
to  town,  distributing  the  benefits  of  their  apostolate  on  the 
various  tribes  of  the  league.*  We  may  say  that  in  16C8  the 
cross  towered  above  the  five  Iroquois  cantons,  and  for  sixteen 
years  Canadian  missionaries  succeeded  each  other  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  present  State  of  New  York.  But  it  was  especially 
among  the  Mohawks  that  the  Jesuits  obtained  the  most  con- 
verts; and  in  1673  the  two  principal  villages,  Caughnawaga  and 
Tiuniontoguen,  were  organized  as  regular  pariches,  where 
schools  were  opened  for  the  young,  while  the  course  of  religious 
instruction  was  graduated  for  the  difi'erent  ages  and  brought 
within  the  reach  of  the  feeblest  minds. 

*  Father  James  Fremin,  whom  we  find  among  the  Iroquois  in  1656,  was 
employed  there  many  years,  and  died  at  Quebec  in  1692. 

Father  James  Bruyas,  born  apparently  at  Lyons,  arrived  at  Quebec  ia 
1666,  and  in  the  following  year  visited  the  Iroquois  country.  He  was  alive 
iu  1703. 

Father  Julian  Garnier,  born  at  Connerai,  in  the  diocese  of  Maas,  absut 
1643,  arrived  in  Canada  in  1662,  being  still  a  scholastic.  He  was  ordained  in 
1666,  and  was  yet  alive  in  1722. 

Father  Stephen  de  Carheil  arrived  from  France  in  1656,  and  remained 
among  the  Cayugas  till  1684,  and  was  then  sent  to  the  Ottawa  mission.  Ho 
died  at  Quebec  in  1726. 

Father  Francis  Boniface  died  at  Quebec  in  1674. 

According  to  a  printed  list  of  Canadian  clergy,  Father  Louis  Nicolas 
arrived  in  1656,  and  died  in  1682.  Father  Thierry  Beschefer  arrived  in 
1686,  and  died  in  1601,  but  the  Jesuit  Journal,  which  is  conclusive  on  the 
point,  makes  the  former  arrive  in  1664  and  tlie  latter  in  1665. 

Father  Milet  arrived  iu  1667,  was  a  prisoner  at  Oneida  from  1689  to  1694, 
inddiedin  1711. 


318  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Still  it  was  only  a  minority  of  the  naticn  wliich  had  the  hap- 
piness of  opening  its  eyes  to  the  light  of  the  faith,  and  the 
majority  of  the  Mohawks  remained  obstinate  in  their  idolatry 
and  in  that  disregard  of  morality  which  Catholicity  alone  can 
overcome.  The  virtue  of  the  Christians  was  incessantly  exposed 
to  the  greatest  perils  amid  the  depravation  of  the  villages,  ren- 
dered more  frightful  by  the  abuse  of  spirituous  liquors  which  the 
Dutch  supplied.  The  neophytes  frequently  met,  too,  cruel  per- 
secutions in  their  own  families ;  and  to  shelter  them  from  these 
trials  and  dangerous  temptations,  the  missionaries  resolved  to 
found  a  Reduction  in  Canada,  under  the  protection  of  France, 
composing  it  entirely  of  Christian  Indians.  The  first  establish- 
ment took  place  in  1669  at  La  Prairie,  near  Montreal,  and  Father 
Peter  Raffeix  built  the  church  of  St.  Francois  Xavier  des  Pres. 
A  pious  squaw  of  the  Erie  nation  who  had  been  adopted  by  the 
Oneidas,  and  whose  name  was  Catharine  Ganneaktena,  was  the 
first  to  settle  there  with  her  family,  and  she  drew  so  many 
Indians  around  her  that  in  1670  the  village  numbered  twenty 
families,  comprising  sixty  persons.  The  missionaries  who  suc- 
cessively ministered  among  the  Mohawks  fi'om  1675  to  1681, 
Father  James  de  Lamberville,  Father  Bruyas,  and  Father  Vail- 
lant  de  Gueslis,  favored  this  emigration  with  all  their  powers,* 
and  when  all  the  Christians  had  left  the  Mohawk  territory,  the 
Jesuits  retired  with  them  to  Canada.  The  numbers  of  these 
good  Indians  led  to  a  change  of  the  site  of  the  Reduction,  the 
lands  at  La  Prairie  not  being  adapted  to  support  so  many,  and 


*  Father  Peter  Raffeix  arrived  in  1663,  and  never  left  America.  In  1703 
we  find  him  still  at  Quebec,  worn  by  age  and  infirmities. 

Father  James  de  Lamberville  arrived  in  1673,  and  died  in  1718  (Quebec 
list). 

Father  Vaillant  de  Gueslis  arrived  in  1675,  died  in  1698  (Quebec  list) ;  but 
this  is  another  example  of  the  inaccuracy  of  this  list.  Charlevoix  says  that 
Father  Vaillant  was  among  the  Senecas  in  1704,  and  in  1711  he  celebrated  a 
marriage  at  La  Prairie,  near  Montreal. 


IN"   THE   UNITED   STATES.  319 

in  1676  the  mission  was  transported  some  leagues  up  tlie  St. 
Lasvrence  to  Sault  St.  Louis,  or  Cauglinawaga,  wliere  the  chuvcL 
of  St.  Francis  Xavier  du  Sault  was  built  by  the  Iroquois.  Even 
now  the  village  is  occupied  exclusively  by  the  descendants  of 
these  Indians,  who  adhere  inviolably  to  the  faith  of  their  pilgrim 
fcires,  transmitted,  without  interruption,  for  near  two  hundred 
years. 

The  admirable  fervor  of  the  first  converts  was  a  subject  of  edi- 
fication for  the  missionaries  themselves ;  and  the  example  of 
Catharine  Tehgahwita  proves  what  faith  can  do  to  elevate  a  sav- 
age nature  to  an  eminent  degree  of  sanctity.  This  maiden,  born 
in  1656,  and  left  an  orphan  at  the  age  of  four,  felt  from  child- 
hood a  strong  attachment  to  Catholicity,  and  even  before  receiv- 
ing baptism,  had  made  an  offering  of  her  virginity  to  God.  All 
the  persecutions  of  her  relatives  to  force  her  to  renounce  liei 
generous  design  fell  harmless  before  her  stern  resolution ;  she 
received  holy  baptism  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  then,  in  or- 
der to  give  herself  entirely  to  the  exercise  of  her  piety,  she  emi- 
grated, in  1611,  to  the  Reduction  of  Sault  St.  Louis,  in  Canada ; 
there  she  lived  three  years  in  austerity  and  the  practice  of  the 
most  sublime  virtues,  and  died  in  1660,  leaving  a  memory  which 
is  still  in  veneration,  not  only  among  her  tribe,  but  throughout 
Canada.  We  find  in  the  "  Lettres  Edifiantes  et  Curieuses"  a 
Fketch  of  the  life  of  this  Christian  virgin,  abridged  by  Father 
Cholenec  from  a  still  existing  manuscript  life  composed  by  her 
confessor.  Father  Chauchetiere.  Father  Cholenec  relates  the  pil- 
grimages which  were  made  at  her  tomb,  and  the  miraculous 
cures  obtained  by  her  intercession,  and  give's  at  length  the  testi- 
mony of  the  Rev.  Mr.  de  la  Colombiere,  Canon  of  Quebec,  and  of 
Captain  du  Lud,  Governor  of  Fort  Frontenac,  both  cured  by  the 
mvocation  of  the  venerable  Catharine.  Many  other  graces  obtained 
by  her  intercession  have  long  made  the  Canadians  desire  to  see 
the  process  of  her  beatification  begun. 


320  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

While  emigration  to  Canada  led  to  the  close  of  the  missioi 
in  the  !Moliawk  teriitory,  causes  of  a  different  character  put  an 
end  to  the  labors  of  ihe  Jesuits  among  the  other  Iroquois  can- 
tons. As  long  as  the  Dutch  remained  in  possession  of  New 
Netherland,  they  merely  traded  with  the  Five  Nations,  without 
pretending  to  obtain  of  them  any  act  of  submission  and  surren- 
der of  their  independence  ;  but  on  the  capture  of  New  York  by 
the  English  in  1664,  and  especially  on  the  arrival  of  Colonel 
Thomas  Dongan  as  governor  of  that  colony  in  1G83,  a  far  differ- 
ent policy  presided  over  the  intercourse  between  the  English 
and  the  Iroquois.  Dongan,  considering  their  territory  as  form- 
ing part  of  the  territory  of  New  York,  declared  himself  the 
protector  of  the  Five  Nations,  and  displayed  remarkable  ability 
in  ruining  the  French  influence  in  the  council  of  the  Iroquois 
league.  The  governor  directed  his  efforts  especially  to  expel 
the  Canadian  missionaries,  and  to  inspire  the  Indians  with 
greater  confidence,  he  promised  to  send  them  English  Jesuits, 
and  build  them  churches  in  their  cantons.  These  intrigues  suc- 
ceeded with  the  simple  children  of  the  forest,  and  towards  the 
close  of  1683  Father  Milet  had  to  abandon  his  Oneida  mission, 
while  Father  Fremin,  Father  Pierron,  and  Father  Gamier  retired 
from  the  Senecas.  The  next  year,  Father  de  Carheil,  after  being 
subjected  to  every  brutality,  was  driven  from  the  castles  of  the 
Cayugas,  and  there  remained  only  the  two  brothers  John  and 
James  de  Lamberville,  the  missionaries  at  Onondaga. 

These,  for  some  yeai-s  more,  baffled  all  Dongan's  threats  and 
the  resources  of  his  political  craft.  They  possessed  the  confi- 
dence of  the  Onondagas,  and  to  all  the  colonel's  injunctions  or- 
dering them  to  expel  the  French  Jesuits,  the  Onondagas  answer*^  1 
that  the  Fathers  did  no  injury.  But  what  England's  powder 
could  not  effect,  became  the  consequence  of  the  crime  of  a 
French  gX)vernor.  In  1687,  Jacques  Rene,  Marquis  de  Denonville, 
who  commanded  in  Canada,  received  orders  from  France  to  send 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  321 

over  a  cfirtam  iiiiinber  of  Iroquois  prisoners  to  be  put  in  the 
kino-'s  p-allevs.  Unable  to  take  prisoners  in  war.  the  fifovcrnor 
had  recourse  to  treachery,  and  availed  himself  of  the  influence 
of  Father  John  de  Lamberville  among  the  Onondagas  to  induce 
those  Indians  to  come  to  a  grand  council  at  Cataracouy,  now 
Kingston.  But  as  soon  as  they  had  unsuspectingly  assembled, 
troops  surrounded  them  on  every  side ;  and  the  unhappy  victims 
of  this  trap  were  sent  to  France,  and  put  in  chains  in  the  gal- 
leys. At  the  news  of  this  crime,  indignation  rose  to  its  height 
in  the  cantons  of  the  league,  and  Father  John  de  Lamberville 
had  well-nigh  paid  with  his  life  an  act  of  which  he  was  guilt- 
less. The  sachems,  however,  knew  too  well  the  sanctity  of  their 
missionary  to  suspect  him  of  perfidy.  They  protected  his 
flight,  warning  him  that  they  could  not  answer  for  the  conduct 
of  the  young  braves,  when  once  they  had  chanted  the  war-song, 
and  urging  him  not  to  delay.  Such  was  the  sad  close  of  the 
mission  begun  twenty  years  before,  in  leG*?.* 

During  the  wars  which  ensued,  Father  Milet  was,  like  Jogues 
and  Bressani,  led  a  prisoner  to  the  country  of  the  Iroquois,  and 
for  several  years  was  detained  at  Oneida.  The  Iroquois  Chris- 
tians, who  had  emigrated  to  Canada,  showed  themselves  faithful 
allies  of  France,  and  behaved  with  rare  bravery  in  all  the  cam- 
paigns of  that  period.  But  this  conduct  drew  upon  them  the 
hatred  of  their  pagan  countrymen,  and  when  Christians  were 
made  prisoners,  they  were  subjected  to  the  cruellest  tortures. 
Some,  too,  not  taken  in  arms,  met  the  same  fate  for  refusing  to 


*  Count  Frontenac,  appointed  Governor  of  Canada  in  1689,  brought  back 
the  poor  Iroquois,  whose  liberation  from  the  galleys  he  had  obtained,  and 
did  his  best  to  dissipate  in  the  minds  of  the  Five  Nations  the  effect  of  his 
predecessors  conduct.  The  Marquis  de  Denonville,  on  his  recall,  became 
Bub-governor  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  was  distinguished  for  his  vir- 
tues and  piety  in  that  honorable  post,  which  he  owed  to  the  friendship  of 
Beauvilliers.  We  cannot  conceive  how,  by  a  transient  derangement,  he  could 
commit  such  a  flagrant  treachery  towards  poor  Indians. 

14* 


822  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

abuse  Christianity.  The  most  courageous  of  these  martyrs  were 
Stephen  de  Ganonakoa  and  Frances  Gononhatenha,  whose  con- 
stancy in  the  faith  of  their  baptism  drew  upon  them  a  truly  hor- 
rible treatment.  These  generous  neophytes  confessed  Jesus  cru- 
cified at  the  stake,  while  the  savages  tore  out  their  nails,  and 
roasted  or  slashed  their  bodies ;  and  to  every  question  which 
their  executioners  addressed  them,  they  answered,  to  their  latest 
sigh,  "  We  are  Christians."  All  the  tribes  did  not,  however, 
share  this  sanguinary  rage,  and  many  of  the  Iroquois  desired  to 
see  the  missionaries  return  amongst  them.  On  the  peace  of 
Ryswick  in  1697,  the  Jesuits  hoped  to  restore  their  mission^,  in 
spite  of  the  intrigues  of  the  Earl  of  Bellamont,  Governor  of  New 
York,  who  sent  the  Diitch  pastor  Dellius  to  preach  to  the  Mo- 
hawks. The  minister  failed  completely,  and  did  not  even  take 
up  his  residence  among  the  tribe  whom  he  was  commissioned  to 
convert.  The  governor  employed  all  means  to  keep  up  the  Iro- 
quois hostilities  against  Canada,  in  spite  of  the  treaty  signed  in 
Europe.  Maugre  his  efforts,  the  Five  Nations  concluded  a  sep- 
arate peace  with  Canada  in  1701.  Fathers  James  de  Lamber- 
ville,  Julian  Garnier,  and  Vaillant  du  Gueslis,  with  a  lay  brother, 
all  old  Iroquois  missionaries,  immediately  started  from  Quebec  to 
raise  their  fallen  altars  amid  the  Senecas  and  Onoudagas.  Dep- 
utations of  these  tribes  had  called  for  the  Jesuits,  and  soon  after 
Fathers  James  d'Heu  and  Peter  Mareuil  joined  their  comrades 
in  New  York.* 

Father  Lamberville  was  escorted  to  Onondaga  by  the  Sieur  de 
Marecourt,  a  man  of  great  popularity  among  the  Indians,  and 
was  well  received,  only  one  family  opposing  him.     The  English 

*  Father  James  d'Heu  arrived  from  France  in  1708,  and  was  unfortunately 
drowned  in  1728  (Quebec  list).  However,  he  was  Superior  at  Monti eal  in 
1729. 

Father  Peter  Mareuil  arrived  in  1706,  died  in  1747,  according  to  the  list 
of  Quebec ;  but  he  died  really  at  the  College  of  Louis  le  Grand,  at  Paris,  ic 
1742,  -as  Charlevoix  assures  us. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  323 

governor  had  ordered  them  to  send  the  missionary  to  Albany  • 
but  disregarding  this,  they  allowed  Father  Lamberville  to  erect 
his  house  and  chapel,  which  he  opened  with  a  solemn  Mass  and 
the  chant  of  thanksgiving,  Te  Deum. 

Among  the  Senecas,  Father  Gamier,  old  and  infirm,  after  re- 
fitoiing  the  mission,  left  Father  Vaillant  to  continue  the  active 
labors.  That  missionary  labored  earnestly  to  maintain  peace, 
and  as  long  as  he  remained,  thwarted  Schuyler's  plans  for  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  envoys  of  Catholicity.  He  was,  however,  suc- 
ceeded by  Father  d'Heu  in  the  following  year,  and  in  1709,  as 
War  w'as  about  to  break  out,  Abraham  Schuyler  repaired  to 
Onondaga,  and  by  expressing  his  pretended  regret  at  being  com- 
pelled to  rouse  the  Indians  to  w^ar,  induced  Father  de  Lamberville 
to  hasten  to  Montreal  to  confer  ^vith  Vaudreuil ;  then  working 
on  the  fears  of  Father  Mareuil,  he  got  some  drunken  Indians  to 
pillage  the  chapel  and  mission-house,  and  even  to  destroy  them 
by  fire.  On  this,  Father  Mareuil,  thinking  that  he  owed  his 
very  life  to  Schuyler,  agreed  to  accompany  him  to  Albany,  and 
wrote  to  Father  d'Heu,  at  Seneca,  to  accept  the  proftered  hospi- 
tality of  the  statesman  of  Albany.  Joncaire,  however,  a  French- 
man of  great  influence  with  the  Senecas,  prevented  any  violence 
there,  and  brought  Father  d'Heu  safely  to  Canada.  This  Father 
was  accordingly  the  last  actually  on  the  mission  among  the  In- 
dians, and  though  he  escaped  a  violent  death,  where  his  prede- 
cessors had  fallen,  he  became  soon  after  a  victim  of  his  zeal,  havinsf 
been  drowned  while  in  the  exercise  of  his  ministry. 

When  peace  was  restored  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  Louis 
XIV.  acknowledged  the  right  of  England  to  the  whole  teiritory 
occupied  by  the  Five  Nations,  and  thus  completely  closed  the 
entrance  to  the  cantons  on  the  missionaries  of  France. 

Yet  we  shall  find  in  1748  the  Sulpitian,  Francis  Picquet, 
resume  the  work  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  and  found  within  the 
tolony  of  New  York  the  Reduction  of  the  Presentatiom     But 


S24:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  history  of  this  zealous  man  ^Yill  be  given  hereafter.  Tiie 
Apostolate  of  the  Jesuits  began  ^vith  Father  Jogues  in  1642,  was 
carried  on  at  intervals,  for  over  sixty  years,  and  was  arrested,  not 
by  the  persecution  of  the  idolaters,  but  by  the  intolerance  of 
Protestantism,  which  would  not  suffer  the  children  of  Loyola  to 
devote  themselves  to  the  task  of  transforming  the  savages  into 
Christians.  The  blood  of  the  martyr  and  the  suffering  of  the 
confessor  had  not  been  useless,  and  now  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred Iroquois  at  Caughnawaga,  St.  Regis,  and  at  the  Lake  of 
the  Two  Mountains,  still  practise  Catholicity,  and  preserve  the 
name  of  their  sires,  while  many  other  tribes  have  disappeared 
forever,  destroyed  by  debauchery  and  war,  or  absorbed  in  th(i 
swelling  tide  of  white  immigTation. 

It  may  be  asked  how  the  missionaries  proceeded  in  converting 
these  savaoje  tribes  ?  In  his  interestinoj  Relation,  Father  Bressani 
answers  this  question.  He  gives  in  some  sort  the  method 
which  succeeded  best  among  the  Hurons,  and  which  was  most 
probably  employed  among  the  Iroquois  : 

"  We  advance  the  motives  of  credibility  usually  assigned  by 
theologians;  those  which  answer  best  are  these  three:  The 
first  is  the  conformity  of  our  law"  and  the  commandments  of 
God  with  the  lio-ht  of  reason.  The  fliith  forbids  nothino-  that 
reason  does  not  equally,  and  all  that  faith  commands  is  approved 
by  reason.  .  .  .  Our  Iii^dians  understand  and  discuss  well ; 
they  yield  frankly  to  sound  reasoning.  The  second  argument 
was  our  waitings ;  I  allude  not  merely  to  the  Ho^y  Scripture, 
but  to  ordinary  writings.  By  this  argument  we  silenced  their 
false  prophets,  or  rather  charlatans.  They  have  neither  books 
nor  waitings  of  any  kind.  When,  therefore,  they  told  us  their 
fables  of  the  creation  of  the  world  and  the  deluge,  of  which  they 
have  some  confused  ideas,  and  of  the  spirit  land,  w^e  asked  them, 
*  Who  told  you  this  ?'  they  replied,  '  Our  ancestors.'  '  But, 
retorted  we,  '  your  ancestors  were  men  like  yourselves,  liars  like 


IX   THE    UNITED   STATES,  325 

you,  who  often  exaggerate  and  alter  facts  which  you  relate,  and 
frequently  invent  and  falsify — how  then  can  I  safely  believe 
you  ?  While  we,'  we  added, '  bear  with  us  irrefragable  testimony 
of  what  we  say,  the  Scriptures,  which  are  the  Word  of  God,  who 
lietli  not.  Writing  does  not  change  and  vary  like  the  voice  of 
man,  almost  by  his  very  nature  a  liar.' 

"  And  after  admiring  the  excellence  of  writing,  an  art  which 
Vie  esteem  too  lightly  from  its  commonness,  they  realized  the 
certainty  of  the  Divine  Oracles  which  we  showed  them  wiitten 
in  thc^  sacred  books  dictated  by  God  himself,  whose  command- 
ments, threats,  and  promises  w^e  read  to  them,  and  often  the 
simple  and  artless  narrative  of  the  Divine  Judgment  and  of  the 
pains  iif  hell  prepared  for  the  guilty,  filled  them  with  fear  and 
trembling,  as  in  the  xVcts  we  read  it  filled  the  unjust  judge, 
Felix. 

"  But  the  most  powerful  argument  was  that  drawn  from  our 
own  persons.  In  imitation  of  the  great  apostle,  who,  without 
losing  in  the  least  his  profound  humility,  related  to  the  Corinthi- 
ans, as  though  it  were  of  another,  not  only  his  suflferings  and  holy 
labors  undergone  in  the  service  of  the  Lord,  but  even  the  revela- 
tions and  miraculous  gifts  bestowed  by  Him  who  had  sent  him  to 
preach  his  Gospel  to  them,  we  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  thus  to 
our  Indians,."* 

We  ha^e  inserted  this  interesting  page,  which  cannot  be 
devoid  of  in:ierest  to  such  of  our  young  missionaries  as  aspire  to 
Iread  in  the  steps  of  a  Jogues  and  a  Bressani. 


*  Bressani,  Breve  Eelutione. 


326  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

PROVINCE    OF    NEW    YORK (1640-1760.) 

rhe  Dutch — The  English  occupation  and  Governor  Dongan — First  Colonial  Assembij 
In  1GS3 — Jesuits  at  New  York — Revolution,  and  persecution  of  the  Catholics — Pie 
tended  negro  plot,  and  execution  of  the  Eev.  John  Ury. 

While  the  interior  of  New  York  was  visited  with  so  much 
perseverance  by  the  missionaries,  the  cities  long  remained  closed 
to  their  preaching.  The  Dutch  were  zealous  Calvinists,  and  in 
the  first  chapter  of  the  "  Liberties  and  Exemptions"  of  the  colony, 
was  impliedly  confirmed  what  was  formally  expressed  in  the 
amended  charter  of  1640:  that  the  Protestant  religion,  as  set 
forth  by  the  synod  of  Dort,  should  be  maintained  by  the  Com- 
pany and  the  Director.  According  to  the  decrees  of  that  synod, 
no  other  religion  was  to  be  tolerated.  Yet  the  people  of  New 
Netherlands  did  not  evince  any  special  intolerance.  We  have 
seen  how  charitably  and  kindly  they  welcomed  the  Jesuit  Fathers, 
Jogues  and  Bressani,  after  their  countrymen  at  Fort  Orange  had 
rescued  those  missionaiies  from  the  hands  of  the  Indians.  The 
ministers  themselves,  Dominie  Megapolensis  and  Bogaixlus,  set 
the  example  of  the  most  generous  conduct,  and  we  must  state  the 
fact  to  their  honor.  During  the  period  of  the  Dutch  rule,  the 
only  case  of  oppression  on  the  Catholics  was  the  prosecution  in 
X 65 8  of  a  Frenchman  by  the  Sheriff  of  Breuckelen  (Brooklyn), 
for  refusing  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  Rev.  Dominie 
Polhemus.  The  delinquent,  for  insolently  pleading  the  frivolous 
excuse  that  he  was  a  Catholic,  was  fined  twelve  guilders.  There 
vras  in  this,  however,  no  persecution  of  the  Catholics  specially,  for 


]N   THE   UNITED   STATES.  327 

the  same  day  an  Eng.isliman  was  subjected  to  the  same  fiue  for 
refusiug  to  pay  his  cliiircli  rate,  on  the  ground  that  he  did  not 
undei'stand  Dutch.* 

It  is  true  that  the  number  of  Catholic  settlers  at  that  time  was 
then  very  limited ;  yet  there  were  some,  as  we  leai-n  by  a  letter  of 
Dominie  Megapolensis,  which  Dr.  O'Callaghau  has  given  in  his 
history  of  New  Amsterdam.  In  this  letter,  addressed  to  the 
Classis  in  Amsterdam,  the  minister  says  that  Father  Le  Moyne, 
the  Jesuit  missionary,  had  visited  him  at  Manhattan,  "  on  account 
of  the  Papists  residing  here,  and  especially  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  French  sailors,  who  are  Papists,  and  who  have  arrived 
here  with  a  good  prize."f 

When  the  Dutch  colony  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of 
York,  and  especially  when  Col.  Thomas  Dongan  was  sent  out  as 
governor  in  1C83,  the  number  of  Catholics  in  the  province  of 
New  York  must  have  increased  perceptibly.  The  intention  of 
the  latter  would  have  been  to  favor  emigration  from  Ireland, 
and  to  encourage  the  new-comers  by  grants  of  land.  But  this 
able  governor  was  not  long  enough  in  office  to  realize  all  his 
plans  for  the  good  of  the  colony,  where  he  had  expended  for  the 
public  good  most  of  his  private  fortune.  In  this,  as  in  many 
other  points,  the  CathoHc  Governor  Dongan  forms  a  striking 
contrast  with  the  mass  of  colonial  rulers  who  sought  their  own 
profit  at  the  expense  of  the  countries  submitted  to  them.  To 
Dongan,  too,  New  York  is  indebted  for  the  convocation  of  the 
first  legislative  assembly,  the  colony  having  been  till  then  ruled 
and  governed  at  the  good  pleasure  of  the  governor ;  and  this 
readiness  to  admit  the  people  to  a  share  in  the  government  is  a 
fact  which  the  enemies  of  James  II.  shoCild  not  conceal  in  their 
rstimate  of  that  Catholic  monarch.    The  first  act  of  the  Assembly 


*  Bayley,  Sketcli  of  the  Catholic  Church,  p.  U. 
t  O'Callaghan,  New  Netherlaud. 


328  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

passed  October  30,  1683,  was  a  charter  of  liberties,  declariuor 
that  "  no  person  or  persons,  which  profess  finih.  in  God  by  Jesus 
Christ,  shall  at  any  time  be  any  ways  molested,  punished,  dis- 
quieted, or  called  in  question  for  any  difference  of  opinion  or 
matter  of  religious  concernment,  w  ho  do  not  actually  disturb  the 
civil  peace  of  the  province ;  but  that  all  and  every  such  person 
or  persons  may,  from  time  to  time,  and  at  all  times,  freely  have 
and  fully  enjoy  his  or  their  judgments  or  consciences,  in  matters 
of  religion,  throughout  all  the  province — they  behaving  them- 
selves peaceably  and  quietly,  and  not  using  this  liberty  to  licen- 
tiousness, nor  to  the  civil  injury  or  outward  disturbance  of 
others."  By  another  article,  all  denominations  then  in  the  prov- 
ince were  secured  the  free  exercise  of  their  discipline  and  forms, 
and  the  same  pri\alege  extended  to  such  as  might  come.  It  was 
only  by  favor  of  such  a  liberality  that  Colonel  Dongan  could 
hope  to  obtain  toleration  for  Catholicity ;  but  these  laws  making 
all  equal,  and  thus  harmonizing  with  the  avowed  doctrines  of 
Protestantism,  did  not  survive  the  Catholic  rule  which  had  pro- 
mulgated them.  The  New  York  Assembly  of  1691  declared 
null  and  void  the  acts  of  the  Assembly  of  1683,  and  instead  of 
the  Charter  of  Liberties,  passed  a  Bill  of  Rights,  which  expressly 
excluded  Catholics  from  all  participation  in  the  privileges  which 
it  conferred.  It  had  been  the  same  in  Maryland,  where  Catholics 
had  first  proclaimed  religious  liberty,  and  where  the  Protestants, 
who  soon  gained  the  ascendency,  proscribed  the  Pajnsts  and 
their  creed. 

AVe  have  seen  m  a  previous  chapter  that  Governor  Dongan 
used  every  effort  to  stop  the  French  Jesuit  missions,  in  order  to 
destroy  at  the  same  time  the  influence  which  France  possessed  in 
the  councils  of  the  Iroquois  league.  Such  hostility  in  time  ot 
profound  peace  gave  rise  to  complaints  on  the  part  of  Louis  XIV., 
and  James  II.  ordered  his  representative  to  fa^'or  the  enterprises 
of  the  Fathers,  instead  of  thwarting  them,  with  all  his  power. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  829 

Dongan  wished  to  see  the  Iroquois  Christians ;  but  he  wislied 
them  to  be  English,  not  French  ;  and  to  reconcile  the  interests  of 
religion  and  loyalty,  he  asked  for  English  Jesuits  to  station  in 
the  cantons  in  the  place  of  the  French  missionaries.  Some 
Fathers  arrived  for  this  purpose  at  New  York,  but  their  ignorance 
of  the  Iroquois  dialects  at  first  prevented  their  proceeding  beyond 
the  city,  and  the  recall  of  Dongan,  followed  by  the  overthrow  of 
James,  annihilated  all  hopes  of  an  apostolate  among  the  Five 
Nations.  Campbell  cites  from  a  Roman  Catalogue  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  the  names  of  three  Jesuits  as  having  resided  at  New 
York  at  that  time.  Of  these.  Father  Thomas  Harvey  was  in  that 
city  from  1683  to  1690,  and  then  withdrew  to  Maryland,  but 
returned  to  New  York  in  1696,  though  he  finally  went  back  to 
Maryland,  and  died  there  in  1719,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 
Father  Henry  Harrison  was  in  New  York  in  1685,  and  returned 
to  Ireland  in  1690,  though  we  find  him  in  Maryland  in  169*7. 
Father  Charles  Gage  was  also  in  the  colony  in  1686  and  168*7. 
These  religious  profited  by  their  stay  in  New  York  to  open  a 
college ;  but  the  Catholic  element  was  too  weak  to  support  it,  as 
we  may  judge  by  the  following  letter,  written  by  Jacob  Leisler,  a 
fanatical  usurper  of  the  government,  to  the  Governor  of  Boston, 
»n  August,  1689  :  "I  have  formerly  urged  to  inform  your  Hour, 
that  Coll.  Dongan,  in  his  time  did  erect  a  Jesuite  Colledge  upon 
cullour  to  learn  Latine  to  the  judges  West.  Mr.  Graham,  Judge 
Palmer,  and  John  Tudor  did  contribute  their  sons  for  some  time, 
but  noboddy  imitating  them,  the  colledge  vanished."* 

The  historian  of  the  colony,  Smith,  who  wrote  more  than  fifty 
years  later,  greatly  exaggerates  the  disaffection  of  the  people  to 
the  government,  and  represents  the  whole  people  as  trcmlliug 
for  the  Protestant  cause,  because  several  Catholics  came  over  as 


*  O'Caliaghan,  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  ii.  28.    Bayley,  Brief 
iketoh,  p.  19. 


330  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

settlers,  and  because  a  Latin-scliool  ay  as  opened.  The  appoint- 
ment of  a  Catholic  as  collector  of  the  port  enabled  Jacob  Leisler, 
a  fanatical  and  ambitious  merchant,  to  create  some  excitement 
by  a  refusal  on  his  part  to  pay  the  duties  to  a  Catholic ;  and  for 
this  conduct  he  has  been  lauded,  even  in  our  day,  as  a  champion 
of  liberty  !  He  became  the  leader  of  those  who  refused  all  social 
intercourse  with  Cathohcs;  and  when  the  news  arrived  of  the 
fall  of  James,  Nicholson,  the  Lieutenant-governor  of  Andross,  the 
successor  to  Dongan,  found  that  Leisler  was  plotting  to  seize 
him,  and  fled.  Leisler  immediately,  with  the  help  of  his  satel- 
lites, seized  the  government,  and  although  the  members  of  the 
council  sought  to  uphold  the  government  in  being,  they  were 
compelled  to  fly  to  Albany.  Every  means  was  now  resorted  to 
to  keep  alive  the  feeling  which  had  raised  him  to  power,  and  it  is 
impossible  to  read  without  a  blush  of  shame  the  numerous  docu- 
ments of  the  period  collected  in  the  Documentary  History  of  New 
York — depositions  of  men  that  they  had  seen  the  Heutenant-gov- 
ernor  at  Mass ;  that  the  Papists  on  Staten  Island,  where  Dongan 
resided,  had  threatened  to  cut  the  throats  of  the  inhabitants  and 
burn  the  town ;  that  Mr.  de  la  Prairie  had  arms  in  his  house  foi 
fifty  men,  and  that  a  priest  was  concealed  in  the  fort,  where  a 
good  part  of  the  garrison  consisted  of  Irish  Catholics. 

The  popular  hostility  excited  by  such  means  doubtless  drove 
from  New  York  most  of  the  Catholics  who  had  settled  there 
during  the  reign  of  James  II.,  and  if  we  can  rely  on  the  census 
of  1696,  there  were  then  only  seven  Papists^  or,  at  most,  seven 
Papist  families  in  New  York.  The  smallness  of  this  numbei 
should  have  calmed  the  fears  of  the  Protestants,  but  it  was  not 
so,  and  in  IVOO  an  act  was  passed,  of  which  the  following  was 
the  preamble :  "  Whereas,  divers  Jesuits,  Priests,  and  Popish 
missionaries  have,  of  late,  come,  and  for  some  time  have  had 
their  residence  in  the  remote  parts  of  this  province,  and  others  of 
his  majesty's  adjacent  colonies,  who,  by  their  wicked  and  subtle 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  331 

..nsiniiations,  industriously  labored  to  debauch,  seduce,  and  with- 
iraw  tlie  Indians  from  their  due  obedience  to  his  most  Sacred 
Majesty,  and  to  excite  and  stir  them  up  to  seditious  rebellion  and 
open  hostility  against  his  Majesty's  government,"  &c.  The 
enacting  part  was  as  cruel  as  the  preamble  was  false.  It  declared 
that  every  priest  coming  into  the  province  after  the  first  of  No- 
vember, 1700,  or  remaining  after  that  day,  should  be  "deemed 
and  accounted  an  incendiary  and  disturber  of  the  public  peace 
and  safety,  and  an  enemy  to  the  true  Christian  religion,  and  shall 
be  adjudged  to  suffer  perpetual  imprisonment."  If  he  broke 
prison  and  were  retaken,  the  penalty  was  death,  and  any  one 
that  hai*bored  a  priest  was  made  liable  to  a  fine  of  £200  sterling, 
and  to  stand  three  days  on  the  pillory.  It  is  due,  however,  to 
the  people  of  New  York  to  state  that  this  sanguinary  act,  inspired 
apparently  by  earlier  legislation  of  New  England  on  the  same 
subject,  was  the  work  of  the  fanatical  Earl  of  Bellamont,  then 
governor,  and  was  so  opposed  by  the  people  that  he  got  it 
through  his  Council  only  by  voting  as  a  member,  and  then  giving 
a  casting  vote  as  president  of  the  body,  and  sanctioning  it  as 
governor. 

In  1701  a  law  was  passed  excluding  Catholics  from  office,  and 
depriving  them  of  the  other  branch  of  the  elective  franchise,  that 
of  voting.  The  next  year  Queen  Anne  granted  liberty  of  con- 
science to  all  the  inhabitants  of  New  York,  Papists  excepted. 
Such  intolerance,  it  is  evident,  kept  from  New  York  all  Catholic 
immigration,  and  the  few  of  the  faithful  who  resided  there  were 
subjected  to  many  trials,  as  the  popular  mind  was  ready  to 
ascribe  any  calamity  to  them.  Few  dared  to  avow  them.-^elves 
Catholics,  and  in  the  absence  of  priest  and  church  it  was  impos- 
sible to  fulfil  the  duties  of  religion,  as  there  was  no  way  but  th3 
then  long  and  expensive  journey  to  Philadelphia. 

But  the  most  rvmarkable  fact,  to  prove  how  sadly  the  public 
mind  had  been  envenomed,  since  the  English  began  to  exceed 


332  THE  CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  Dutch  in  numbers  and  influence;  is  the  execution  of  the 
unfortunate  John  Uiy,  against  whom  the  popular  hate  was 
excited,  in  consequence  of  the  behcf  that  he  was  a  CathuHc 
priest.  In  the  early  part  of  1741,  the  citj  of  New  York,  which 
then  contained  20,000  inhabitants,  was  seized  with  one  of  those 
inexplicable  panics  to  which  assemblages  of  men  are  more  sub- 
ject than  individuals.  A  rumor,  arising  out  of  a  number  of  fires 
in  different  parts  of  the  town,  accused  the  negroes  of  a  plot  to 
burn  the  city  and  massacre  the  inhabitrntb.  On  this  groundless 
suspicion  the  whole  people  were  thrown  into  the  greatest  alarm. 
The  lieutenant-governor,  George  Clarke,  -v.ho,  in  his  dispatch 
of  the  2 2d  of  April,  ascribes  the  fire  in  the  fort  to  an  a^ccident, 
which  he  fully  explains,  by  the  loth  of  May  had  discovered  a 
horrid  conspiracy  and  plot,*  in  consequence  of  which  he  offered 
a  reward  of  a  hundred  pounds  sterling  and  a  free  pardon  to  any 
white  person  who  would  reveal  the  authors  of  the  plot,  and  then 
an  indented  servant,  named  Mary  Burton,  came  forward  to 
accuse  a  number  of  persons  of  being  concerned  in  the  conspiracy. 
The  prosecutions  were  instituted  with  a  disgusting  thirst  for 
blood,  and  carried  on  without  throwing  any  light  on  the  mystery 
which  they  sought  to  unveil.  Three  months  pass'^d  in  illusory 
interrogatories,  and  three  persons  had  been  hung  as  authors  of 
the  plot,  when  on  the  19th  of  June  the  lieutenant-governor,  as 
deluded  as  the  worst,f  took  it  into  his  head  to  oflPer  pardon  to  all 
who  should  confess  before  the  first  of  July.  "  The  poor  negroes," 
says  an  impartial  reporter,  "  being  extremely  terrified,  were  anx- 
ious to  take  the  only  avenue  of  safety  that  was  ofifered,  and  each 
strove  to  tell  a  story  as  ingenious  and  horrible  as  he  could  man- 
ufacture. The  terrible  cry  of  Popery  was  now  raised,  which 
struck  terror  to  the  hearts  of  all,  and  led  to  the  sacrifice  of  an 
amiable  and  interesting  clergyman,  of  whose  innocence  there  can 

*  Now  York  Colonial  Documents,  vi.  186.  I"  IbiJ.  7i. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  833 

scarcely  remain  a  doubt,  so  absurd  was  tlie  chai'ge  against  him, 
and  so  feebly  was  it  supported."* 

It  was  now  that,  for  the  first  time,  Mary  Burton  denounced 
John  Ury.  This  man  was  arrested  as  a  Catholic  priest,  tried  as 
a  Catholic  priest,  condemned  and  executed  as  a  Catholic  priest, 
and  yet  to  this  day  a  mystery  so  complete  hangs  over  his  fate 
that  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  say  whether  he  was  either  a 
Catholic  or  a  priest.  Although  it  would  have  been  enough  for 
him  to  prove  that  he  was  not  a  priest,  to  have  dissipated  the 
hatred  gathered  agaiuot  him,  and  thus  probably  escaped  an 
ignominious  death,  Ury  never  formally  denied  the  accusation, 
or  defended  himself  from  the  charge  of  being  a  Catholic.  Al- 
though uncertainty  rests  on  his  real  character,  it  is  most  certain, 
however,  that  Ury  was  condemned  only  because  judge,  jury, 
counsel,  and  people  believed  him  an  ecclesiastic  of  the  dreaded 
Church  of  Rome  ;  and  the  crime  of  intention,  if  not  of  fact,  rests 
with  full  force  on  the  fanatical  population  of  New  York  in  1741. 

All  that  is  certainly  known  of  Mr.  John  Ury  is,  that  he  was 
the  son  of  a  secretary  of  the  South  Sea  Company.  According 
to  a  strange  journal  of  his  published  by  Horsemanden,  in  his  ac- 
count of  the  trial,  he  arrived  from  Europe  at  Philadelphia,  Feb- 
ruary, 1739,  and  opened  a  little  school  in  New  Jersey,  and  then, 
in  November,  1740,  came  to  reside  in  New  York.  Here  he 
taught,  and  baptized  some  children.  Several  witnesses  proved 
that  he  shut  himself  up  in  his  room  with  several  persons  to  cel- 
ebrate religious  ceremonies ;  that  he  had  wafers  made,  and  u 
stand  in  the  form  of  an  altar ;  that  he  preached  frequently,  and 
had  candles  lighted  in  the  daytime.  The  only  doubt  can  bC; 
whether  Mr.  Ury  was  a  Catholic  priest  or  a  nonjuring  Angli- 


*  American  Criminal  Trials,  by  Peleg  W.  Chandler  (Boston,  1844),  i.  222. 
Sec  U.  S.  Catliolic  Magazine,  v.  678.  "  At  first,"  says  Governor  Clarice,  on 
August  24th,  "  we  thought  it  was  only  projected  by  Huson  and  the  negroes, 
but  it  is  now  apparent  that  the  hand  of  Popery  is  in  it." 


334  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

can  ;  but  in  an  able  dissertation  on  the  subject,  B.  U.  Campbell. 
Esq.,  proves  clearly  that  the  second  hypothesis  is  inadmissible, 
because  Ury  v/ould  not  have  failed,  in  that  case,  to  exculpate 
himself  from  the  charge  of  being  a  priest ;  while  under  the  for- 
mer hypothesis,  the  fear  of  compromising  the  few  Catholics  of 
New  York  would  compel  him,  on  his  trial,  to  be  silent  as  to  lii? 
priestly  character.  He  was  not  at  all  thought  of  in  connection 
with  the  plot  until  long  after  Huson's  execution,  when  an  ab- 
surd letter  of  General  Oglethorpe's,  declaring  that  Jesuits  in  the 
interest  of  the  Spaniards  were  in  all  the  towns,  filled  all  minds 
with  panic  fears  of  Jesuits  in  disguise ;  and  every  effort  was 
made  to  discover  one.  On  the  20th  of  June,  the  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor wrote  :  "  There  was  in  town,  some  time  ago,  a  man  who  is 
said  to  be  a  Romish  priest,  who  used  to  be  at  Huson's,  but  has 
disappeared  ever  since  the  discovery  of  the  conspiracy,  and  is  not 
now  to  be  found."*  On  his  trial,  he  defended  himself  ably^  but 
saw  the  evident  impossibility  of  obtaining  a  just  hearing,  the 
''anatical  hatred  of  the  Catholic  religion  demanding  his  blood.f 
xifter  his  conviction,  Mr.  Ury  asked  a  short  reprieve,  to  enable 
him  to  prepare  for  death ;  and  on  its  expiration,  was  hung,  on 
the  29th  of  August,  1741.  Eleven  negroes  were  burnt  alive  at 
the  stake,  eighteen  hung,  and  fifty  transported  to  the  West  In- 
dies, in  expiation  of  this  pretended  plot ;  and  Mr.  Campbell  thus 
concludes  his  interesting  dissertation  on  the  most  innocent  of 
these  victims  of  a  popular  delusion  : 

"  The  melancholy  fate  of  the  Reverend  John  Ury  was  one  of 
peculiar  hardship.  Accused  of  an  infamous  crime,  without  coun- 
sel to  advise  or  defend  him,  he  was  tried  by  an  excited  tribunal, 
whose  strongest  prejudices  were  invoked  against  him,  on  account 
of  his  faith  and  religious  character ;  and  he  was  convicted  upon 


*  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vi.  198. 

t  See  Horsemauden,  Account  of  the  Negro  Conspiracy. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  335 

the  testimony  of  profligate  and  perjured  witnesses.  Doomed  to 
the  death  of  a  felon,  be  met  his  fate  with  manly  fortitude  and  a 
Christian  resignation.  As  he  believed  that  his  saccrdotiil  char- 
acter was  the  cause  of  his  condemnation,  it  would  have  been  a 
consolation  in  his  last  moments  to  have  declared  himself  a  Cath- 
olic priest.  But  as  such  an  acknowledgment  would  bave  com- 
promised those  friends  who  had  shown  him  hosjitality  and  kind- 
ness, his  sense  of  honor  and  gratitude  restrained  him  from  an 
avowal  that  would  have  conferred  upon  his  death  the  dignity  of 
martyrdom."* 

The  fearful  trial  of  which  ve  have  spoken  shows  that  in  1741 
there  were  some  Catholics  in  New  York  ;  but  they  scarcely 
durst  avow  it  to  each  other,  and  this  state  of  intimidation  lasted 
till  the  Revolutionary  War.  Father  Josiah  Greaton  was  the  only 
Catholic  priest  in  Philadelphia  in  1739,  and  it  is  probable  that 
Mr.  Ury  was  in  correspondence  with  him,  for  Judge  Horseman- 
den  admits  that  the  dying  speech  of  the  priest  was  printed  at 
Philadelphia  by  his  friends,  soon  after  his  execution  ;  but  this 
version  is  unfortunately  lost.f 

But  Ury  was  not  the  only  victim  to  hatred  of  Catholicity. 

Of  the  negroes  arrested  as  concerned  in  the  plot,  some  were 
Spanish  negroes,  taken  on  a  Spanish  vessel  in  time  of  war,  and 
sold  as  slaves,  instead  of  being  treated  as  prisoners,  for  they  were 
freed  men.  Most,  however,  of  those  executed  were  negroes  raised 
in  the  colony  by  English  or  Dutch  families.  The  former  showed 
education,  talent — all  that  constitutes  a  man  ;  the  latter  wpre 


*  Life  and  Times  of  the  Most  Rev.  John  Carroll,  U.  S.  Catholic  Magazine, 
vi.  38. 

+  The  only  authority  for  these  trials  is  Horsemanden's  book,  "  The  New 
York  Coni*piracy,  or  a  History  of  the  Negro  Plot,  &c.,  New  York,  1744." 
Chandler,  already  cited,  pronounces  the  whole  a  delusion,  and  believes  that 
Mr.  Ury  was  not  a  priest,  but  a  nonjiiring  minister.  Mr.  Campbell  con- 
cludes that  he  was  a  priest ;  Bishop  Bayley  expresses  no  opinion  ;  and  Mr. 
Bhea  adopts  Chandler's  view  of  the  matter. 


336  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

like  dumb  cattle.  Unaided  by  a  lawyer — for  c^ery  member  of 
tue  bar  was  arrayed  against  tbem — the  Spauisli  negroes  took  ob- 
jec lions  wliich  certainly  would  have  weighed  with  any  but  a 
prtjndiced  judge  ;  yet,  in  spite  of  all  their  arguments  and  testi- 
mony, they  were  condemned.  The  New  York  negroes  made  no 
attempt  at  defence,  and,  indeed,  were  incapable  of  any.  They 
made  any  accu-^iition  or  admission  that  was  asked.  At  the  stake, 
tlio  difference  was  even  greater  :  the  poor  native  negroes  wero 
led  out  like  so  many  brutes,  unattended  by  any  clergyman,  with 
no  attempt  to  convert  them,  but  chained  to  the  stake,  and 
burned  amid  their  howls  of  despair.  The  conduct  of  the  Span- 
ish, and  consequently  Catholic  negroes,  was  striking  even  to  the 
savage  justice,  Horsemanden,  who  chronicles  the  plot.  Priest 
there  was  none  to  prepare  them  for  death  ;  they  were  left  to 
themselves,  and  yet  a  few  brief  words  of  the  justice  speak  a  eu- 
logy on  the  Catholic  religion,  which  could  make  such  a  different 
result :  "  Juan  de  Sylva,  the  Spanish  negro  condemned  for  the 
conspiracy,  was  this  day  executed  according  to  sentence  :  he  was 
neatly  dressed  in  a  white  shirt,  jacket,  drawers,  and  stockmgs, 
behaved  decently,  prayed  in  Spanish,  kissed  a  crucifix,  insisting 
on  his  innocence  to  the  last."* 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  337 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

STATE    OF    NEW    YORK (1776-1786). 

CV.»cslitiition  of  the  State— The  English  Party  and  Protestantism— Commencoment  of 
Catholic  worship  in  the  city  oi  New  York— St.  Peter's  Ciurch— Father  Wholan  end 
Father  Nugent— A  trustee  of  St.  Peter's  in  1786. 

The  population  of  the  colony  of  New  York  made  common 
cause  with  the  other  colonies  from  the  outset  of  the  Revolution- 
ary War ;  but  the  city  of  New  York,  after  the  disastrous  battle 
of  Long  Island,  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Enghsh  till  1783, 
and  was  the  last  large  town  evacuated  by  the  British  troops. 
On  the  31st  of  May,  IV 7 6,  Congress  advised  the  several  States  to 
adopt  constitutions,  and  the  New  York  Convention  met  for  this 
purpose  at  Kingston,  on  the  6th  of  March,  1777.  The  Consti- 
tution, as  proposed,  gave  the  Legislature  powder  of  naturalizing 
such  foreigners  as  came  to  reside  in  the  State,  on  their  taking  an 
oath  of  allegiance.  ]But  Mr.  John  Jay  proposed  as  an  amend- 
ment that  every  foreigner  should  "  abjure  and  renounce  all  al- 
legiance and  subjection  to  all  and  every  foreign  king,  prince,  po- 
tentate, and  State,  in  all  matters  ecclesiastical  and  civil ;"  and  in 
spite  of  the  efforts  of  several  honorable  delegates,  such  as  Morris 
and  Livingston,  the  amendment  was  finally  adopted.  Thus,  a 
foreign  Catholic,  a  Lafayette,  Pulaski,  Moylan,  or  Kosciusko, 
could  not  become  a  citizen  of  the  State  of  New  York  ;  and  this 
state  of  things  lasted  till  1789,  when  the  General  Government 
of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  itself  the  question  of  naturali- 

15 


338  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

zation,  annnlled  virtually  the  reserves  and  restrictions  contained 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York.* 

The  clause  relative  to  the  liberty  of  worship  was  thus  in  the 
Constitution  as  proposed  :  "  Free  toleration  of  religious  profession 
and  worship  shall  forever  hereafter  be  allowed  to  all  mankind." 
This  clause  came  up  for  debate  on  the  20th  of  May,  and  Mr.  Jay 
did  not  fail  to  offer  an  amendment.  He  wished  to  tolerate  in 
the  State  the  presence  of  no  Catholic  who  did  not  deny  on  oath 
the  power  in  the  priesthood  of  remitting  sins.  This  restriction 
was  too  absurd  to  be  entertained  by  the  Convention ;  it  was 
withdrawing  with  one  hand  the  liberty  proffered  by  the  other ; 
but  Jay  craftily  drew  up  another,  to  exclude  Catholics ;  and  the 
article  of  the  Constitution  was  adopted  with  his  amendment,  in 
these  terms :  "  Provided  that  the  liberty  of  conscience  hereby 
granted  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  excuse  acts  of  licentious- 
ness, or  justify  practices  inconsistent  with  the  peace  or  safety  of 
the  State." 

These  acts,  and  like  ones  in  other  Statei,  to  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  Father  Fleming  alluded,  soon  after  the  close  of  the  war, 
show  what  ignorance  of  our  history  has  led  to  the  assertions  that 
the  American  people  never  have,  since  their  birth  as  a  nation, 
performed  one  act  of  hostility  to  the  Catholic  religion,  and  that 
their  first  act,  on  winning  their  independence,  was  to  repair  the 
injustice  of  the  mother  country  towards  the  Church,  and  place 
Catholics,  in  their  religion,  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  Protest- 
ants, England  tolerated  Catholicity  in  Canada  but  the  new  re- 
pubhcs  refused  to  follow  the  step. 

■  But  while  the  British  government  favored  the  Catholics  in 
Canada,  it  prevented  all  public  exercise  of  their  worship  at  New 
York  during  its  possession  of  that  city.  Anglican  fanaticisrr_ 
was  displayed  in  an  especial  manner  in  1778.     In  February  of 

*  Journal  of  Provincial  Convention,  846. 


nr  THE   UNITED  STATES.  339 

that  year,  a  large  French  man-of-war  was  taken  by  the  Enghsh 
in  Chosapcalie  Bay,  and  brouglit  on  to  New  York  to  be  con- 
demned. The  chaph^in  of  this  vessel  was  Mr.  De  la  Motte,  of 
the  Order  of  St.  x\ngustine ;  and,  like  the  officers,  he  was  put 
on  parole,  and  allowed  to  visit  the  city  freely.  The  few  Catho- 
lics of  New  York  begged  Mr.  De  la  Motte  to  grant  Ihem  the 
satisfaction  of  hearing  Mass ;  and  the  chaplain  solicited  permis- 
sion from  the  British  commander,  but  received  a  peremptory  re- 
fusal. Whether  ho  misunderstood  the  reply,  or  resolved  to  dis- 
regard it,  Mr.  De  la  Motte  celebrated  the  holy  mysteries  for  the 
poor  people,  who  in  all  probability  assisted  for  the  first  time  in 
many  years.  But  the  chaplain  was  arrested  for  the  act,  and 
strictly  confined  in  prison  till  he  was  exchanged.* 

As  soon  as  the  colonies  opened  negotiations  and  formed  an 
alliance  with  France,  the  English  party  sought  to  identify  their 
cause  with  that  of  Protesl autism,  and  to  excite  the  fanaticism  of 
the  populace  by  presenting  as  a  danger  for  the  Reformation, 
either  liberty  of  worship  or  the  French  alliance.  The  honors 
paid  by  Americans  in  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  the  army  of 
France  were  presented  as  religious  treasons;  and  we  read  in 
Rivington's  Royal  Gazette  of  December  11,  1782:  "On  the 
4 ill  of  November  the  clergy  and  selectmen  of  Boston  paraded 
through  the  streets  after  a  crucifix,  and  joined  in  a  procession  for 
praying  a  departed  soul  out  of  purgatory ;  and  for  this  they  gave 
the  example  of  Congress  and  other  American  leaders  on  a  former 
occasion  at  Philadelphia,  some  of  whom,  in  the  height  of  their 
zeal,  even  went  so  far  as  to  sprinkle  themselves  with  what  they 


*  Greenleaf  s  History  of  tlie  Churclies  of  New  York.  Bishop  Bayley, 
Sketch  of  the  CathoHc  Church,  p.  35,  The  prison  in  wliich  Mr.  De  la 
Motte  was  confined  was  the  Old  Sugar-house,  which,  but  a  few  years  since, 
was  standing  beside  tlie  Post-office,  in  Liberty-street.  The  church  now 
used  as  a  Post-offioe  was  used  by  the  English  troops  as  a  riding-scliool,  and 
for  a  time  as  a  hospital ;  and  the  confessor  of  the  faith  was  doubtless  con- 
&ued  here  also. 


340  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCZ 

call  holy  water."*  General  x^rnold,  who  endeavored  to  sell  his 
native  land  to  England,  had  also  been  scandalized  l>y  the  tolera- 
tion which  Catholics  were  beginning  to  enjoy ;  and  if  we  may 
believe  the  celebrated  traitor,  his  conscience  did  not  permit  him 
to  remain  faithful  to  a  party  which  thus  sacrificed  the  essential 
interests  of  Protestantism.  In  his  address  to  the  inhabitants  of 
America,  Arnold  laments  that  the  great  interests  of  the  country 
"  were  dangerously  sacrificed  to  the  partial  views  of  a  proud,  an- 
cient, and  crafty  foe ;  regards  her  as  too  feobb  to  establish  their 
independence ;  charges  her  with  being  an  enemy  to  the  Protest- 
ant faith ;"  and  in  the  proclamation  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  of 
the  Continental  army,  he  says  that  *'  he  wished  to  lead  a  chosen 
band  of  Americans  to  the  attainment  of  peace,  liberty,  and  safety, 
and  with  them  to  share  in  the  glory  of  rescuing  their  native 
country  from  the  grasping  hand  of  France,  as  well  as  from  the 
ambitious  and  interested  views  of  a  desperate  party  among  them- 
selves, who  had  already  brought  the  colonies  to  the  very  brink  of 
destruction."  Even  their  last  stake,  religion,  he  represented  to 
be  in  such  danger  as  to  have  no  other  security  than  what  de- 
pended upon  the  exertions  of  the  parent  country  for  deliverance. 
In  proof  or  illustration  he  asserted  a  fact  upon  his  own  know- 
ledge, viz.,  that  he  had  lately  seen  their  mean  and  profligate 
Congress  at  Mass  for  the  soul  of  a  Roman  Catholic  in  purgatory, 
and  participating  in  the  rites  of  a  Church,  against  v/hose  anti- 


*  Freneau's  poems,  p.  238.  This  republican  poet  cites  it  to  explain  the  foui 
following  lines,  which  he  puts  into  Eivington's  mouth  : 

"  If  the  greatest  among  them  submit  to  the  Pope, 
What  reason  have  I  for  indulgence  to  hope  ? 
If  the  Congress  themselves  to  the  chapel  did  pass, 
Ye  may  swear  that  poor  Jemmy  would  have  to  sing  Mass." 

Eivington  was  a  bookseller,  who  published  a  Tory  paper,  and  had  a  shop 
in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard.  He  kept  also  a  coffee-house,  much  frequented 
by  the  officers,  many  of  whom,  when  they  evacuated  the  city,  forgot  to  pay 
him. 


"iN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  341 

Christian  corruptions  tlieir  pious  ancestors  would  have  witnessed 
in  tlieir  blood.* 

The  English  army  evacuated  New  York  and  set  sail  for  Europe 
on  the  25th  of  November,  1*783,  and  it  is  probable  that  Father 
Farmer,  who  had  organized  a  congregation  previous  to  the  war, 
and  who  still  resided  at  Philadelphia,  seized  the  first  opportunity 
to  revisit  his  little  flock  of  Catholics  at  New  York.f  The  part 
taken  by  France  had  rendered  the  clause  introduced  by  Jay  a 
nullity,  and  no  obstacle  existed  to  the  open  celebration  of  the 
Catholic  worship.  A  tradition  preserved  in  the  city  tells  us  that 
the  first  chapel  was  a  loft  over  a  carpenter's  shop,  and  Mr.  Camp- 
bell, in  his  version  of  the  tradition,  states  that  service  was  actually 
performed  in  1*781  or  1782.  This  must  have  been  outside  of  the 
city,  where  the  English  exercised  less  influence ;  but  it  seems 
very  doubtful.  Although  it  is  impossible  to  prove  Father  Far- 
mer's presence  in  New  York  in  1782,  it  is  beyond  all  doubt  that 
he  visited  the  city  in  the  following  year.  In  one  of  his  letters  he 
says  that  about  the  month  of  December,  1783,  he  spent  five  days 
at  Fishkill  among  the  Canadian  refugees,  in  order  to  revive  the 
foith  among  them  ;  and  the  missionary  could  scarcely  have  gone 
from  Philadelphia  to  Fishkill  without  passing  through  New  York. 
Father  Farmer's  mission  comprised  New  York  and  New  Jersey  ; 
and  even  in  1785,  when  there  were  three  priests  in  New  York, 
Father  Farmer  lirected  them  from  Philadelphia. 

The  restoration  of  peace  and  the  assembling  at  New  York  of 
t'le  foreign  ministers,  gave  the  Catholics  more  energy  and  cour 
age.  They  even  solicited  the  use  of  a  room  in  the  Exchange  for 
the  purposes  of  divine  worship,  and  though  the  authorities  re- 
je:*:'  i  the  petition,  heard  Mass  in  Water-street,  in  or  near  the 


*  Dodsley's  Annual  Register  for  1781,  p.  47,  cited  in  the  American  Celt, 
June  2,  1855. 

+  It  is  impossible  to  fix  the  date  of  his  visits  to  New  Tork,  and  of  thM9 
prior  to  the  war  we  have  only  va^ue  tradition. 


64:)i  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

residences  of  Dou  Thon^.a:.  Stoughton,  the  Spanish  consul,  oi 
of  Don  Diego  de  Gardoqui,  the  minister  of  the  same  power,  who 
took  up  his  residence  in  New  York  in  1785,  when  it  became  the 
temporary  seat  of  the  Federal  government.  Hardie,  in  his  de- 
scription of  New  York,  also  speaks  of  the  halls  hired  by  the 
Catliolics  in  1784  and  1785  to  meet  on  Sunday  in  prayer;  and 
Greenleaf  tells  us  that  prior  to  1786  they  used  as  a  church  "a 
building  erected  for  public  pui'poses  in  Vauxhall  Garden,  situ'it 
on  the  margin  of  the  North  River."*  In  1785  an  act  of  incor- 
poration was  obtained  by  St.  Peter's  Church  from  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  early  in  1786  a  lot  was  purchased  in  Barclay- 
street  to  erect  the  first  Catholic  church  in  New  York.  On  the 
Feast  of  St.  Charles  Borromeo,  patron  of  his  Cathol'ic  Majesty, 
the  Spanish  ambassador  laid  the  corner-stone,  and  his  sov^ereign, 
Charles  III.,  allotted  a  considerable  sum  to  aid  in  erecting  the 
holy  temple.  The  French  consul,  Mr.  St.  John  de  Crevecceur, 
was  also  one  of  its  chief  benefactors. 

At  this  epoch  Father  Farmer  continued  to  be  the  vicar  for 
New  York  of  Father  John  Carroll,  the  prefect-apostolic ;  but  he 
did  not  reside  there  permanently,  and  other  priests  actually 
settled  there  exercised  the  functions  of  the  ministry.  In  the 
month  of  October,  1784,  Father  Charles  Whelan,  an  Irish  Fran- 
ciscan, arrived  at  New  York,  and  asked  Father  Farmer  to  be 
employed  as  a  missionary.  Father  Whelan  had  been  a  chaplain 
on  board  one  of  the  vessels  in  Admiral  de  Grasse's  fleet,  wdiich 
was  defeated  by  Admiral  Rodney  on  the  12th  of  April,  1786, 
and  was  taken  prisoner  in  that  great  naval  battle.  After  revisit- 
ing Ireland  he  came  over  to  America  with  his  two  brothers, 
whom  he  induced  to  settle  there.  Father  Whelan  i^ad  his  eccle- 
siastical recommendations  in  regular  form,  but  he  had  no  apprO' 
bation  from  the  Congregation  of  the  Propaganda  at  Rome,  and 

*  History  of  the  Churches  of  New  York,  p.  e33. 


i:q  the  united  states.  343 

at  that  period  the  apostoHc-prefect  was  authorized  to  gratit  facul- 
ties only  to  such  as  were  sent  by  the  Propaganda.  This  restric- 
tion seemed  very  embarrassing,  to  Father  John  Carroll,  who  used 
every  endeavor  to  obtain  more  ample  faculties  from  Rome.  Yet 
the  measure  was  dictated  by  prudence ;  it  sheltered  the  Unite'l 
States  from  priestly  adventurers,  and  it  w»/uld  have  saved  Father 
Carroll  himself  many  trials  and  chagrins  if  he  had  not  solicited 
the  removal  of  a  restriction  really  beneficial  to  the  future  of  the 
Church.  Father  Whelan  accordingly  at  first  obtained  only 
power  to  say  Mass ;  but  avaiHng  himself  of  the  powers  he  had 
in  Ireland,  he  proceeded  to  hear  confessions  and  celebrate  mar- 
riage. This  led  to  a  long  struggle  between  him  and  Father 
Farmer,  in  which  the  hitter's  authority  was  not  always  respected. 
At  last,  in  the  month  of  July,  a  rescript  of  the  Propaganda  ar- 
rived, and  enabled  Father  Carroll  to  regulate  the  position  of 
Father  Whelan. 

But  scarcely  had  the  affairs  of  the  Church  in  New  York  seemed 
to  be  restored  to  tranquillity,  when  new  troubles  arose  to  sadden 
it.  Towards  the  close  of  1*785,  a  second  L-ish  Franciscan,  Father 
Andrew  Nuofent,  arrived  at  New  .York,  and  endeavored  to  force 
himself  on  the  ecclesiastical  authorities.  As  he  was  a  better 
preacher  than  Father  Whelan,  the  laity  immediately  took  the 
preacher's  part,*  and  asked  Father  Farmer  to  withdraw  Father 
Whelan.  The  good  Jesuit  having  endeavored  to  pacify  them, 
the  trustees  threatened  to  apply  to  the  Legislature  to  obtain  a 
law  enabling  them  to  dismiss  a  clergyman,  when  they  became 


*  "  A  good  preacher,  alas  !  is  all  that  some  want,  who  never  approach 
the  sacraments,"  wrote  Father  Farmer.  At  this  time,  the  Catholics  of  New 
York  took  steps  to  get  from  Ireland  Father  Jonos,  a  Franciscan  at  Cork,  who 
was  called  a  "great  preacher."  But  that  religious  did  not  yield  to  their 
entr-aties.  "  The  different  sectaries  ha-e  scarce  any  other  test  to  judge  of  a 
clergyman,  than  his  talents  for  preachin/,  and  our  Irish  congregations,  such 
as  New  York,  follow  the  same  rule,"  wrote  Father  CarroU,  on  the  15th  of 
Decec.wer,  17S5.     Campbell,  in  U.  S.  Catholic  Magazine,  vi,  102. 


344  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

dissatisfied  witL  him.  All  attempts  at  conciliation  proved  use- 
less, and  at  Christmas,  1785,  the  trustees  decided  that  the  Sunday 
collection  should  no  longer  be  given  to  Father  AVhelan.  This, 
was  the  only  resource  of  the  missionary,  and  after  remaining  at 
his  post  till  the  12th  of  February;  1786,  he  resolved  to  leave 
New  York,  and  join  his  brother  at  Johnstown,  forty-five  miles 
from  Albany.  Father  Whelan  intended  to  return  at  Easter,  but 
aff"airs  were  not  arranged  in  the  interval,  and  the  prefect,  whose 
confidence  he  had  preserved,  empowered  him  to  found  a  mission 
in  Kentucky. 

By  the  retreat  of  Father  Whelan,  Father  Nugent's  party  tri- 
umphed, and  hoped  to  have  their  favorite  as  pastor.  The  latter, 
disregarding  his  want  of  regular  powers,  announced  that  he 
would  hear  confessions ;  and  Father  Farmer,  announcing  this  im- 
prudent conduct  to  the  Very  Rev.  Mr.  Carroll,  formally  requested 
the  suspension  of  Father  Nugent.  But  it  seems  that  the  Prefect- 
apostohc  preferred  to  temporize,  for  fear  of  greater  scandals,  in 
case  the  priest  openly  disowned  his  authority.  This  melancholy 
condition  of  aftairs  continued  till  November,  1787,  when  Father 
Carroll  committed  the  parish  of  New  York  to  Father  William 
O'Brien,  a  Dominican  Father  from  Dublin.  Father  Nugent  re- 
mained at  New  York,  though  without  exercising  the  ministry, 
and  Bishop  Bayley  found  on  the  minutes  of  St.  Peter's  Church, 
that  in  1790  the  trustees  made  a  collection  to  pay  the  passage  of 
their  ex-pastor,  who  embarked  for  France  in  the  Telemaque.* 

We  must  avow  that  nothing  is  more  sad  than  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Church  in  New  York.  Disobedient  priests,  rebel- 
lious and  usurping  laymen  !  But  this  picture  should  serve  as  a 
lesson  to  American  Catholics,  as  Mr.  Campbell  justly  observes  : 
"  It  will  show  the  pernicious  tendency  of  the  trustee  system,  to  re- 
mark, that  at  the  period  of  this  presumptuous  interference  of  the 

*  Bayley,  Catholic  Church  in  New  York,  p.  49. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  345 

trustees  of  tlie  Catliolic  congregation  of  New  York  with  tlie 
spiritual  government  of  the  Church,  they  were  not  in  possession 
of  an  edifice  of  their  own  in  which  to  perform  divine  worship, 
but  were  under  the  necessity  of  hiring  a  room  for  the  purpose."*' 
Yet,  of  a  CathoHc  population  of  one  hundred,  about  forty  ap- 
proached the.  sacraments  ;  and,  to  maintain  the  devotion  of  this 
httle  nucleus  of  the  faithful,  Father  Farmer  made  frequent  jour- 
neys to  New  York.  He  continued  these  periodical  visits  till 
shortly  before  his  death,  which  occurred  at  Philadelphia  in  1780  ; 
and  after  him.  Father  O'Brien  succeeded  in  extending  piety  and 
pacifying  the  troubled  minds.  Thus,  amid  the  cockle,  the  good 
grain  showed  itself  at  New  York ;  and  in  spite  of  the  preten- 
sions and  exactions  of  the  trustees,  we  cannot  refuse  them  a  cer- 
tain merit  for  preserving  the  name  of  Catholics  amid  the  jarring 
sects  of  Protestantism,  and  for  having  built  the  first  church, 
which,  for  twenty-three  years,  was  the  only  shrine  of  the  faith  in 
New  York.f  But  were  they  really  Catholics  ?  We  might  al- 
most doubt  it,  from  the  writings  of  the  best  known  of  them, 
Hector  St.  John  de  Crevecoeur. 

This  personage,  born  at  Caen,  in  Normandy,  of  a  noble  family, 
in  1731,  probably  bore  the  name  of  St.  Jean  ;  and  his  long  stay 
in  England  and  America  doubtless  induced  him  to  adopt  that  of 
St.  John.  At  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  went  to  England,  and 
thence,  in  1754,  to  America,  where  he  displayed  great  energy  as 
'  a  pioneer.  But  when  the  Revolution  broke  out,  he  lost  much  by 
+he  ravages  of  the  tories  and  Indians.  Wishing  to  return  to 
Europe  in  1780,  he  obtained  a  safe-conduct  to  go  to  New  York, 
then  in  the  hands  of  the  English.    Yet  he  was  detained  as  a  pris- 


*  U.  S.  Catholic  Magazine,  vi.  148. 

+  The  first  trustees  were  Hector  St,  John  de  Crevecoeur,  Consul  of  Franco, 
Jose  Roiz  Silva,  J.  Stewart,  and  Henry  Duffy.  The  first  Mass  was  said  in 
St.  Peter's  by  Father  Nugent,  November  4th,  178G.  The  sacristy,  portico, 
and  pews  were  not  finished  till  1792. 

15* 


346  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

oner  for  tliree  months,  and  having  reached  France  by  the  way  of 
Irehind,  was  appointed,  by  the  Minister  of  the  Marine,  French 
Consul  at  New  York.  He  accordingly  returned  to  that  city  on 
the  19th  of  November,  1783,  and  his  first  care  was  to  call  upon 
Mr.  William  Seton,  the  father-in-law  of  the  future  foundress  of 
the  Sisters  of  Charity  at  Emmetsburg.  Mr.  Seton  had  rendered 
great  service  to  Mr.  St.  John,  in  1780,  in  obtaining  his  release 
from  prison,  and  the  latter  now  sought  to  obtain  tidings  of  his 
wife  and  children,  whom  he  had  left  on  his  farm  ;  but  he  had 
the  afiliction  to  learn  that  during  his  absence  his  wife  had  died, 
his  house  been  burnt,  and  his  children  carried  off  by  the  Indians. 
His  children,  however,  carried  finally  to  Boston,  had  been  recov- 
ered by  Mr.  Seton,  and  were  restored  to  their  father's  arms. 
During  his  stay  abroad,  he  published  in  English  his  "  Letters  of 
an  American  Farmer,"  of  which  he  issued  also  a  French  edition, 
dedicated  to  the  infamous  Abbe  Raynal.  In  this  book,  Mr.  St. 
John  shows  himself  an  adherent  of  the  philosophic  school,  and 
profoundly  indifferent  to  religion.  He  advances  this  religious  in- 
difference as  the  striking  point  of  the  American  character,  and 
pleasantly  details  its  advantages.  Such  were  the  sentiments  of 
the  president  of  the  trustees  of  the  first  Catholic  church  in  New 
York  ;  and  we  need  not  wonder  if  the  body  showed  itself  rebel- 
lious to  its  pastor.* 


*  Letters  of  an  American  Farmer,  written  to  a  friend  in  England,  by 
Hector  St.  Jolin,  a  Farmer  in  Pennsylvania.  The  letter;:*  are  addressed  to 
W.  S***n,  Esq.  (William  Seton),  and  tlie  dedication  (dated  Albany,  May  17, 
1781)  to  General  Lafayette.  The  French  edition  is  edited  by  the  eldei 
Lacretelle.  The  work  ran  through  several  editions,  and  was  much  en- 
larged. He  also  wrote  "  Voyage  dans  la  Haute  Pennsylvanie,"  Paris,  1801. 
The  Dictionnaire  Historiqne  de  Bouillet  transforms  him  into  "  Sir  John  de 
Crevecoeur,  an  American  Economist."  He  returned  to  France  in  1793,  and 
died  L-  1813. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

STATE    AND    DIOCESE    OF    NEW    YORK (1787-1813.) 

Father  O'Prien  and  the  yellow  "ever  in  Ne-v  York— The  negro,  Peter  Toussaint— The 
Al)b6  Sibourg— Fathers  Kuhlmann  and  Fenwick— Erection  of  an  episcopal  See  at 
New  York— Rt.  Kev.  Luke  Concanen,  first  bit^hop— His  di-'ath  at  Naples— Father 
Benedict  Fenwick,  administrator— The  New  York  Literary  Institution— Father  Fen- 
wick and  Thomas  Paine — Father  Kohlmann  and  the  secre-cy  of  the  confessional. 

The  rising  Church  of  New  York,  so  vexed  for  some  years,  at 
last  found  rest  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Father  William 
O'Brien,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  whom  the  prefect-apostolic, 
towards  the  close  of  the  year  11 8l,  sent  to  replace  Mr.  Nugent. 
Father  O'Brien  was  a  highly  zealous  and  intelligent  priest,  who 
knew  how  to  fulfil  his  duties  so  as  to  edify  his  flock  and  please 
his  ecclesiastical  superior.  Soon  after  becoming  pastor  of  St. 
Peter's  he  proceeded  to  Mexico,  in  order  to  solicit  aid  for  the 
completion  of  his  church,  and  seems  to  have  been  replaced  du- 
ring his  absence  by  the  Rev.  Nicholas  Rourke,  whose  name  ap- 
pears in  the  New  York  City  Directory  from  1790  to  1792.'^' 
The  Archbishop  of  Mexico  at  this  time,  Don  Alonzo  Nunez  de 
Haro,  had  been  a  fellow-student  of  Father  O'Brien's  at  Bologna, 
in  Italy,  and  the  prelate  received  the  missionary  with  the  great- 
est cordiality.  Bishop  Bayley  found  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
h'ustees  that  Father  O'Brien  collected  in  Mexico  four  thousand 
'jine  hundred  and  twenty  dollars ;  and  that  he  brought  besides 
sev*^.ral  beautiful  paintings,  with  which  he  adorned  his  church, 
and  a  noble  donation  of  one  thousand  dollars  made  him  by  the 

*  Ne>  York  City  Directory  for  1791,  '2,  and  1792,  '8. 


3-18  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Bishop  and  Chapter  of  Puebhi  de  los  Angelos,  that  happy  city 
which  holds  the  body  of  the  Blessed  Sebastian  de  la  Aparicion, 
the  only  beatified  servant  of  God  whose  body  reposes  in  Nortn 
America.  This  was  not  the  only  occasion  when  the  clergy  and 
Catholics  of  Mexico  have  displayed  their  generosity  to  their 
brethren  in  the  faith  in  the  United  States.  Some  years  since, 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Magloire  Blanch et,  Bishop  of  Nesquely,  and  the  Rt. 
Rev.  John  Timon,  Bishop  of  Buffalo,  successfully  appealed  to 
Mexican  charity  for  the  necessities  of  their  dioceses,  as  did  also 
the  Jesuit  Fathers,  De  Luynes  and  Maldonado,  in  behalf  of  the 
college  of  their  Order  in  the  city  of  New  York.  These  are  facts 
which  should  remain  in  the  memory  of  the  faithful,  and  inspire 
lasting  gratitude  for  their  fellow  Catholics  of  Mexico. 

Father  O'Brien  displayed  all  the  qualities  of  a  good  pastor, 
whether  in  preaching  the  word  of  God  to  the  faithful,  or  in  visit- 
ing the  sick  durmg  the  ravages  of  the  yellow  fever,  which  for  a 
time  yearly  desolated  New  York.  The  scourge  was  most  severe 
in  the  summers  of  1795  and  1*798,  and  the  good  Father  multi- 
plied himself  so  as  to  leave  none  of  his  dear  parishioners  without 
religious  succor.'^*  Among  them  he  found  a  compassionate 
being,  ever  ready  to  devote  himself  to  the  care  of  the  sick,  in  the 
person  of  a  young  negro,  full  of  more  piety  and  virtue  than  Mrs. 
Stowe  could  pour  into  the  hero  of  her  tale.  But  it  was  not  in 
the  chill  of  Protestantism  that  Peter  Toussaint  found  the  source 
of  his  charity.  He  did  not,  perhaps,  constantly  read  and  as 
constantly  misunderstand  the  Bible ;  but  he  nourished  his  soul 
daily  with  the  "  Imitation  of  Christ,"  and  put  it  in  practice.  He 
d>l  not  set  himself  up  as  a  revolutionist,  exciting  a  war  of  races; 
but  he  spoke  to  men  of  his  color,  more  of  their  duties  than  oi 

*  The  victims  of  the  fever  in  1798  were  two  thousand  and  eiglity-six,  of 
whom  eipfhty-six  were  interred  at  St.  Peter's.  Bardie's  account  of  the  ma- 
lignant fever;  New  York,  1799.  This  gives,  however,  an  imperfect  idea  of 
tlie  number  of  deaths  among  the  Catholics,  as  many  were  hurled  in  the  Pot- 
ter's Field. 


IN    TF.5:    UNITED    STATES.  349 

their  rights,  and  his  name  deserves  to  be  known  a.ad  esteemed 
by  all  American  Catholics,  as  it  has  been  for  sixty  years  by  the 
whole  population  of  New  York. 

Peter  Toussaint  was  born  in  1*766,  on  the  plantation  of  Lati- 
bonite,  parish  of  St.  Mark,  in  the  island  of  St.  Domingo.  Son 
of  a  slave,  himself  a  slave,  he  soon  became  the  confidential  serv- 
ant of  his  master,  Mr.  John  Berard ;  and  when  the  revolution 
broke  out  in  the  island,  the  latter  brought  him  to  New  York, 
where  he  left  him  with  Madame  Berard  while  he  returned  to 
the  AYest  Indies  to  collect  the  wreck  of  his  fortune.  But  Mr. 
Berard  died  on  the  voyage,  leaving  his  wife  without  any  re- 
sources at  New  York.  Toussaint  was  the  sole  support  of  his 
mistress,  and  he  resolved  to  devote  the  whole  fruit  of  his  toil  to 
her  maintenance.  He  was  very  expert  as  a  ladies'  hairdresser, 
and  by  his  intelligence  and  politeness  he  soon  became  the  fash- 
ionable hairdresser  to  the  best  society  in  New  York.  Madame 
Berard,  wishing  to  be  no  longer  dependent  on  her  slave's  purse, 
subsequently  married  ?ne  of  her  countrymen,  Mr.  Nicolas,  who, 
after  being  a  rich  planter  in  St.  Domingo,  w^as  reduced  to  play 
the  violin  in  the  orchesti'as.  Toussamt,  however,  did  not  con- 
sider himself  exonerated  from  his  duty  to  his  mistress,  and  con- 
tinued to  place  in  her  hands,  no  less  eagerly  than  delicately,  all 
his  savings.  Besides  this,  Toussaint  found  time  to  visit  the  sick 
in  their  houses,  and  the  incidents  related  of  his  charity  are  as 
numerous  as  they  are  touching.  One  day  he  learned  that  a 
poor  priest,  just  landed,  was  languishing  alone  in  a  garret,  a  prey 
to  the  typhoid  fever.  Toussaint  repaired  to  the  spot,  brought 
the  sick  man  down  to  the  street  in  his  arms,  procured  a  carriage., 
took  him  to  his  house,  and  nursed  him  till  he  recovered.  Al 
another  time  the  yellow  fever  was  ravaging  New  Yoi"k,  and 
raged  so  violentl}'-  in  Maiden  Lane  that  the  police  barricaded 
the  ends  of  the  street  and  caused  the  survivors  to  remove. 
Toussaint  heard  that  a  woman  had  been  abandoned  in  one  of 


850  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

the  houses ;  he  crossed  the  barrier,  and  took  his  place  by  hei 
bedside,  hivishiug  every  care  upon  her. 

In  1810  Madame  Nicolas,  on  her  death-bed,  emancipated  her 
faithful  slave,  and  God  blessed  Toussaint's  charity  by  enabling 
him  to  acquire  a  modest  competence.  He  devoted  the  greater 
part  of  his  income  to  good  works,  and  not  content  with  giving 
himself,  he  was  always  ready  to  go  round  with  subscription  lists 
for  churches,  convents,  orphan  asylums,  any  thing  that  concerned 
religion  and  charity.  When  he  thus  solicited  alms  for  others, 
he  knocked  at  the  doors  of  his  old  customers ;  and  donations  of 
many  Protestant  families  to  Avorks  essentially  Catholic  are  due 
to  the  influence  of  Toussaint.  Thus  he  hved  doing  good  till  the 
age  of  eighty-seven,  and  we  are  assured  that  for  sixty  years  he 
never  failed  to  hear  Mass  every  morning.  Having  survived  his 
wife  and  children,  he  left  the  principal  part  of  his  property  to  a 
lady  who  had  been  one  of  his  kindest  patrons,  but  whom  an  un- 
fortunate mariiage  had  reduced  to  the  utmost  misery.  He  died 
as  he  had  lived,  on  the  30th  of  June,  1853,  and  a  rich  Protestant 
lady  who  attended  his  funeral  thus  describes  it  in  a  private  letter 
to  a  friend : 

"  I  went  to  town  on  Saturday  to  attend  Toussaint's  funeral. 
High  Mass,  incense,  candles,  rich  robes,  sad  and  solemn  music, 
were  there.  The  Church  gave  all  it  could  give  to  prince  or  noble. 
The  priest,  his  friend,  Mr.  Quin,  made  a  most  interesting  address. 
He  did  not  allude  to  his  color,  and  scarcely  to  his  station ;  it 
seemed  as  if  his  virtues  as  a  man  and  a  Christian  had  absorbed 
all  other  thoughts.  A  stranger  would  not  have  suspected  that  a 
black  man,  of  his  humble  calling,  lay  in  the  midst  of  us.  He 
said  no  relati\e  was  left  to  mourn  for  him,  yet  many  present 
would  feel  that  they  had  lost  one  who  always  had  wise  counsel 
for  the  rich,  words  of  encouragement  for  the  poor,  and  all  would 
be  grateful  for  having  known  him. 

"  The  aid  he  had  given  to  the  late  Bishop  Fenwick,  of  Bosuon^ 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  351 

to  Father  Powers,  of  our  city,  to  all  the  Catholic  institutions, 
was  dwelt  upon  at  large.  How  much  I  have  learned  of  his 
charitable  deeds  which  I  had  never  known  before !  Mr.  Quin 
said :  '  There  were  lelt  few  among  the  clergy  superior  to  him  in 
devotion  and  zeal  for  the  Church  and  for  the  glory  of  God  ; 
among  laymen,  none.' " 

Another  Protestant  lady,  Mrs.  H.  F.  Lee,  has  written  the  hfe 
of  the  venerable  negro,  to  whom  she  not  inaptly  applies  the  ex- 
pression of  the  old  English  author,  Thomas  Fuller:  "God's 
image  carved  in  ebony."*  The  abolitionists  of  Boston  justly  ex- 
tol the  virtues  and  intelligence  of  Toussaint,  and  his  merit  must 
have  been  of  no  ordinary  character  when  his  being  a  Catholic 
did  not  put  him  on  the  index  of  New  England  Puritanism.  For 
us,  who  know  that  men,  all  equal  before  God,  may  be  unequal 
on  earth,  we  admire  piety  wherever  it  shines  forth,  in  the  heart 
of  the  slave  as  in  the  soul  of  a  king. 

Father  William  O'Brien,  so  devoted  in  the  hour  of  pestilence, 
was  no  less  sensible  to  the  importance  of  giving  children  a 
Christian  education,  and  in  1800  he  opened  a  free-school  in  St. 
Peter's  Church,  which  soon  numbered  five  hundred  pupils. 
About  the  same  time  the  Rev.  Matthew  O'Brien  arrived  from 
Ireland,  and  was  attached  to  the  same  paiish  in  New  York 
The  latter  enjoyed  a  high  reputation  in  Ireland  as  a  preacher, 
whure  a  volume  of  his  sermons  had  been  published.f  He  was 
consulted  by  Mrs.  Seton  in  the  long  indecision  which  preceded 
her  conversion,  and  he  enlightened  her  by  written  arguments  in 
reply  to  the  treatises  which  Dr.  Hobart  wrote  to  retain  that  vir- 
tuous lady  in  error.  We  have  already  related  the  life  of  Mother 
Seton,  the  venerable  foundress  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  at  Em- 

*  Memoir  of  Pierre  Toussaint,  born  a  Slave  in  St.  Dominsro  ;  by  the  au- 
thor cf  Tliree  Experiments  in  Livino-,  etc.,  etc. ;  third  edition.  Boston, 
Crcjby  &  Nichols,  1854. 

t  Sermons  on  some  of  the  most  important  subjects  of  morality  and  reli- 
gion ;  by  the  Eev.  Matthew  O'Brien,  D.  D.    Cork,  James  Haly,  1798. 


352  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

mctoburg.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Matthew  O'Brien  had  the  consolatijtr: 
of  receiving  her  ahjuration  in  St.  Peter's  Church  on  Ash  Wed- 
nesday, March  14,  1805 ;  on  the  25th  she  made  her  first  com- 
munion in  the  same  church,  and  on  the  2Gth  of  May  received 
confirmation  at  the  hands  of  Bishop  Carroll.* 

In  1805  the  Abbe  Sibourd  was  an  assistant  j^astor  at  St. 
Peter's.  This  ecclesiastic  came  from  Europe  about  1*798,  but 
we  do  not  know  in  what  parish  the  Bishop  of  Baltimore  placed 
him  before  1805.  He  became  for  a  time  confessor  and  director 
of  Mother  Seton,  and  it  was  in  consequence  of  his  representations 
to  Bishop  Dubourg  that  the  latter  earnestly  urged  the  pious 
convert  to  leave  New  York  for  Baltimore.  When  Dr.  Dubourg 
was  consecrated  to  the  See  of  New  Orleans,  he  persuaded  his 
friend  to  accompany  him  to  his  diocese,  and  in  1820  Mr.  Sibourd 
was  Vicar-general  of  New  Orleans.  On  the  25th  of  March,  1824, 
he  acted  as  assistant  to  Monseigneur  Dubourg  at  the  consecra- 
tion of  Bishop  Rosati,  which  took  place  in  the  parish  Church  of 
the  Assumption ;  and  when  the  former  prelate  left  America  in 
1826  to  fill  the  episcopal  See  of  Montauban,  Mr.  Sibourg  also 
returned  to  France,  and  died  Canon  of  Montauban.  Among  the 
letters  of  the  Rev.  Simon  Brute,  the  future  Bishop  of  Vincennes, 
is  a  letter  dated  in  1811,  with  the  following  passage  :  "  Mr.  Du- 
bourg will  go  to  New  Orleans  as  spiritual  administrator,  as  Mr. 
Sibourd  absolutely  persists  in  refusing." 

It  is  impossible  to  follow  exactly  the  changes  in  the  clergy  at 
New  York;  yet  it  is  certain  that  in  1805  a  Rev.  Dr.  Caffrey  ex- 
trcised  the  holy  ministry  at  St.  Peter's.  In  1807  the  Rev. 
Matthias  Kelly  and  Rev.  John  Byrne  also  resided  at  New  York, 
and  their  names  figure  in  a  list  of  subscribers  to  Pastorini's  His- 


*  The  Rev.  Wm.  O'Brien  continued  to  act  in  New  York  till  his  death  on 
tlio  14th  of  May,  181  (),  though  not  apparently  as  pastor.  Dr.  Matthe-w 
O'lJrien,  however,  left  New  York  in  consequence  of  difficulties  which  arose, 
fcjad  died  at  Eidtimore  on  the  20th  of  October,  1816. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  353 

tory  of  tlie  Church,  published  by  Bernard  Dornin  in  that  year 
These  two  ecclesiastics  probably  left  the  city  in  the  following 
year,  and  were  replaced  by  two  Jesuits  from  Georgetown — Father 
Anthony  Kohlmann  and  Father  Benedict  Fenwick — who  came 
with  four  members  of  their  Order  to  found  a  college.  The  for- 
mer, born  in  Alsace  on  the  13th  of  July,  1771,  went  to  Russia 
in  1805  to  solicit  admission  into  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  after 
his  two  years'  novitiate,  was  sent  to  America  by  the  Superior- 
general,  Gabriel  Gruber.  The  latter,  born  in  Maryland  on  the 
3d  of  September,  1782,  was  one  of  the  first  to  enter  the  Jer.uit 
novitiate  opened  at  Georgetown  in  1806,  and  was  raised  to  the 
priesthood  in  the  following  year.  On  arriving  at  New  York  tne 
two  Fathers  hoped  soon  to  be  gladdened  and  comforted  oy  the 
presence  of  a  bishop.  Monseigneur  Carroll  had  long  solicited 
the  division  of  his  immense  diocese,  and  by  his  brief  of  April  8, 
1808,  Pope  Pius  VII.  had  acceded  to  the  request  by  erecting 
Baltimore  into  a  metropolitan  See,  and  creating  new  Sees  at 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston,  and  Bardstown. 

Father  Luke  Concanen,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  who 
was  discharging  at  Rome  the  functions  of  prior  of  St.  Clement's 
and  librarian  of  the  Minerva,  was  elected  Bishop  of  New  York, 
and  received  episcopal  consecration  on  the  24th  of  April,  1808, 
at  the  hands  of  Cardinal  Antonelli,  prefect  of  the  Propaganda. 
Bishop  Concanen  was  born  in  Ireland,  but  at  a  tender  age 
was  sent  to  receive  the  white  habit  in  Lorraine,  in  the  convent 
of  the  Holy  Cross,  belonging  to  the  Irish  Dominicans,  from 
which,  at  the  expiration  of  his  novitiate,  he  was  removed  to 
St.  Mary's,  in  the  Minerva,  commonly  called  "the  Minerva' 
in  Rome.  At  the  termination  of  his  "  college"  course  of  theo- 
logical studies,  during  which  he  had  acquired  great  distinction, 
he  was  selected  to  bo  professor  in  St.  Clement's,*  the  college  of 

*  At  the  epoch  of  the  so-called  Eeformation,  there  were  in  Ireland  forty- 
three  Domiuican  conventb,  of  which  twenty-three  had  been  founded  during 


354  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  Irisli  Dominicans  in  tlie  same  capital,  and  then  coinmenced 
tliat  brilliant  career  in  Rome  "which  ended  in  his  nomination 
by  the  Holy  See,  first,  to  the  See  of  Kilmacduagh  in  Ireland, 
and  afterwards  to  that  of  New  York,  then  erected  for  the  first 
time  into  a  diocese.  The  reasons  which  may  have  influenced  the 
Holy  See  in  making  choice  of  Dr.  Concanen  for  promotion  to 
such  a  high  office  in  the  Church  may  be  easily  explained.  For 
several  years  previously  he  had  filled  the  office  of  Theologus 
Casanatensis,  a  chair  founded  at  the  Minerva  in  connection  with 
the  celebrated  library  there  instituted  and  endowed  by  the  mu- 
nificence of  the  illustrious  Cardinal  Casanate.  It  may  be  men- 
tioned that  according  to  the  terms  of  this  foundation  there  were 
usually  six  cathedratici  and  theologi,  one  being  selected  from 
each  of  the  great  provinces  of  the  Order  of  Preachers  in  Europe ; 
viz.,  France,  Spain,  Italy,  Germany,  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
and  the  Low  Countries,  or  Poland.  The  Cardinal  was  devotedly 
attached  to  the  doctrines  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  among 
the  qualifications,  therefore,  for  the  ofl5ce  which  he  thus  insti- 
tuted, a  Mastership — that  is  to  say,  a  Doctorship,  acquired  by 
teaching  the  course  of  St.  Thomas — was  indispensably  necessary. 
Some  of  the  ablest  men  that  Rome  has  seen,  continued  to  repre- 
sent their  respective  countries  and  languages  in  the  oflBce  alluded 
to  up  to  the  period  of  the  first  French  Revolution,  and  not  the 
least  among  them  was  the  representative  of  the  Hibernian  Do- 
minicans, Dr.  Luke  Concanen.  While  residing  at  tl.e  Minerva 
in  the  capacity  just  mentioned.  Dr.  Concanen  becan.e  agent  to 
the   late  Dr.  Troy,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  substjquently  to 

the  tliirteeuth  century.  St.  Clement's,  together  with  St.  Sixtus's,  was  made 
over  by  a  general  chapter  of  the  Order  shortly  after  the  supprei;sion  of  con- 
vents in  Ireland  to  the  Hibernia  Dominicana,  for  the  purpose  of  educating 
missionaries  for  this  country.  A  similar  one  was  founded  in  Lisbon,  aud 
another  in  Lorraine  (now  no  longer  in  existence),  and  these  w  fe  the  meana 
of  preservation  of  the  Dominican  Order  in  Ireland  dur'ng  the  '<,^s  of  penw* 
cution. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  355 

i.ll  the  bishops  of  Ireland.  It  might  be  said  that  such  was  the 
high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  at  the  Propaganda  while 
thus  engaged,  that  he  either  altogether  influenced  or  certainly 
liad  a  part  in  advising  every  appointment  that  was  made  for 
Ireland  and  the  British  colonies. 

It  may  be  worth  recording  that  Dr.  Concanen  was  well  known 
in  Rome  also  as  a  preacher  in  the  Italian  language — a  rare  thiug 
for  a  foreigner  to  succeed  in,  or  even  attempt.  Between  his  du- 
ties at  the  Minerva  in  his  double  capacity  of  Theologus  Casana 
tensis  and  Socius  (or  Secretaiy)  for  his  own  province  of  Ireland 
to  the  head  of  the  Order,  and  the  agencies  he  had  to  discharge  at 
the  Sacred  Congregations,  he  was  brought  into  immediate  and 
constant  contact  with  the  principal  authorities  at  Rome,  and  it  is 
therefore  not  surprising  that  he  should  have  been  solicited  on 
various  occasions  to  accept  such  a  mark  of  favor  as  a  mitre.  Kia 
motive  for  declining  the  honor  was  that  his  health  began  to  suf- 
fer fi'om  the  effects  of  an  attack  of  dysentery,  and  he  dreaded 
coming  to  encounter  the  damp  climate  of  Ireland.  In  1810  he 
accepted  that  of  New  York  in  preference  to  the  one  offered  him 
in  his  native  land,  on  account  of  the  southern  latitude  of  the 
former  and  the  favorable  account  he  had  received  of  its  climate. 
Probably  the  disturbed  state  of  Italy,  then  overrun  with  invading 
and  hostile  armies,  had  its  weight  in  inducing  him  to  leave  the 
city  in  which  his  heart  was  centred,  and  where  he  had  resided  for 
nearly  forty  years. 

lie  had  long  taken  an  interest  in  the  American  missions,  and 
it  was  chiefly  by  his  advice  that  the  first  convent  of  Dominicans 
had  been  founded  in  Kentucky  in  1805,  and  he  constantly,  as 
long  as  he  lived,  showed  himself  a  generous  benefactor  of  that 
house.  Wlien  nominated  to  the  See  of  New  York  he  accepted, 
believing  that  his  health  would  there  enable  him  to  discharge  the 
merous  duties  which  the  episcopacy  in  a   newly-erected   Sen 


356  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCE 

wouid  impose  upon  liiin.*  He  set  about  his  preparations,  in- 
tending, as  soon  as  he  took  possession  of  the  new  diocese,  to  call 
in  missionaries  of  his  Order.  Unfortunately,  death  struck  him 
down  before  he  could  leave  Italy,  and  this  premature  death, 
which  for  eight  years  deprived  New  York  of  a  bishop,  defeated 
entirely  the  project  of  a  foundation  of  the  Dominicans. 

Soon  after  his  consecration  Bishop  Concanen  proceeded  to 
Leghorn,  in  order  to  proceed  to  his  See ;  but,  as  he  wrote  to 
Archbishop  Troy,  "  after  remaining  four  months  in  Leghorn  and 
its  environs,  at  a  hotel,  and  expending  a  very  considerable  sum 
of  money,  I  was  under  the  necessity  of  returning  to  this  city 
(Rome).  You  will  do  me  a  singular  favor  in  procuring  me  some 
information  from  Dr.  Carroll.  I  wish  to  know  what  assignment 
or  provision  there  is  for  the  support  of  the  new  bishop.  You 
will  oblige  me  by  any  information  on  this  head  before  my  depart- 
ure from  hence,  which  will  be  God  knows  when."f 

As  Father  Kohlmann  remarks  in  one  of  his  letters,  the  bishop, 
had  he  known  the  utter  absence  of  any  provision,  would  not,  in 
his  feeble  health,  have  attempted  to  take  possession  of  the  See ; 
but  of  this  he  was  unaware,  and  believing  the  task  not  beyond 
his  strength,  tried  all  means  in  his  power  to  repair  to  his  beloved 
flock ;  but  the  unhappy  circumstances  of  wars  and  revolutions 
always  prevented  him  from  attaining  the  end  of  his  most  ardent 
desires,  till  at  length  he  had  reason  to  believe,  after  a  series  of 
disappointments  and  expenses,  that  the  long-wished-for  period 
had  arrived  w^hich  would  enable  him  to  obtain  a  passage  to 
America.  Naples  w^as  the  port  from  which  he  contemplated 
sailing,  whither  he  repaired  in  order  to  avail  himself  of  the  op- 
portunity of  a  vessel  there  bound  for  the  United  States.  He 
had  already  secured  his  passage,  when  the  government  of  Naples, 

*  Letter  of  Father  Rober^^.  A.  White,  O.  S.  D.,  of  Dublin,  the  nephew  of 
Bisliop  Concanen,  who  has  kindly  furnished  the  information, 
t  Letter  of  Father  Kohlmann,  communicated  by  Father  G,  Feawick,  S.  J 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  357 

informed  of  his  arrival  and  intention,  arrested  him  a&  a  prisoner 
and  ordered  him,  under  the  severest  penalties,  not  to  embark  in 
any  vessel.  This  disappointment  is  thought  to  have  affected  him 
so  sensibly,  on  seeing  himself  probably  debarred  from  ever  being 
able  to  consecrate  the  remainder  of  his  days  to  the  welfare  of  his 
flock,  that  he  fell  dangerously  ill,  and  in  a  few  days  after,  not 
without  suspicion  of  poison,  terminated  his  exemplary  and  edify- 
ing life  in  the  great  convent  of  St.  Dominic,  in  the  city  of  Na- 
ples, on  the  19th  of  June,  1810.  There,  too,  on  the  following 
day,  were  celebrated  the  funeral  obsequies  of  the  first  Catholic 
Bishop  of  New  York,  whose  desire  of  being  useful  had  induced 
him,  at  the  age  of  nearly  seventy,  to  take  the  resolution  of  com- 
ing to  this  country,  after  having  resided  nearly  forty  years  at 
the  Court  of  Rome,  where  he  had  rendered  signal  and  important 
services  to  the  Church  in  England  and  Ireland.* 

By  his  will,  made  doubtless  before  his  consecration,  he  be- 
queathed to  the  Dominican  Convent  of  St.  Rose,  in  Kentucky, 
his  rich  library  and  a  legacy  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  ;  and 
these  were  also  lost  to  the  diocese  of  New  York.  The  Sovereiorn 
Pontiff  learned  with  deep  grief  the  death  of  a  prelate  whom  he 
honored  with  the  title  of  friend.  Pins  VII.  was  then  the  prisoner 
of  Napoleon,  and  in  this  situation  could  not  proceed  to  a  new 
nomination.  The  See  of  New  York,  accordingly,  remained  va- 
cant, before  ever  having  been  occupied  ;  and  it  was  only  in 
1814,  when  the  Holy  Father  returned  to  Rome^  in  the  plenitude 
of  his  power  and  liberty,  that  he  gave  a  successor  to  Bishop 
Concanen. 

Durinor  this  lonir  and  sad  widowhood  of  the  Church  of  New 
York,  Father  Anthony  Kohlmann,  and  subsequently  Father  Fen- 
wick,  exercised  the  functions  of  Vicar-general. 

Of  the  state  of  Catholicity  in  New  York  at  the  period  when  il 

•  Notice  in  the  N.  ^  Commercial  Advertiser,  October  6,  1810. 


358  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

was  thus  deprived  of  its  pastor,  we  find  an  account  in  tlie  lettei 
of  Father  Kohhnann  of  the  21st  of  March,  1 809.  "  Three  months 
ago,"  he  writes,  "  Archbishop  Carroll,  with  the  agreement  of  our 
worthy  Superiors,  sent  me  to  New  York  to  attend  the  congrega- 
tion, together  with  the  dioce£e,  till  the  arrival  of  our  Right  Rev. 
Bishop,  Richard  Luke  Ooncanen,  lately  consecrated  at  Rome. 
This  parish  comprises  about  sixteen  thousand  Catholics,  so  neg- 
lected in  every  respect,  that  it  goes  beyond  all  conception."  This 
Father,  with  his  zealous  coadjutor,  immediately  began  to  improve 
St.  Peter's,  and  excite  the  piety  of  the  faithful.  Their  efl^brts 
were  not  unrewarded.  Ere  long,  he  wrote,  consolingly  :  "  The 
communion-rail  daily  filled,  though  deserted  before ;  general  con- 
fessions every  day  (for  the  majority  of  this  immense  parish  are 
natives  of  Ireland,  many  of  whom  have  never  seen  the  face  of  a 
priest  since  their  arrival  in  the  country) ;  three  sermons,  in 
English,  French,  and  German,  every  Sunday,  instead  of  the  sin- 
gle one  in  English  ;  three  Catechism  classes  every  Sunday,  in- 
stead of  one  ;  Protestants  every  day  instructed  and  received  into 
the  Church  ;  sick  persons  attended  with  cheerfulness  at  the  first 
call,  and  ordinarily  such  as  stand  in  great  need  of  instruction 
and  general  confessions ;  application  made  at  all  houses  to  raise  a 
subscription  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  by  which  means  three 
thousand  dollars  have  been  collected,  to  be  paid  constantly  every 
year." 

The  increased  number  of  the  faithful  in  New  York  called  loud- 
ly for  the  erection  of  a  new  church,  and  Father  Kohlmann  did 
not  shrink  from  undertaking  it.  A  large  plot  of  ground  was 
purchased  in  what  was  then  the  unoccupied  space  between 
Broadway  and  the  Bowery  road,  and  here  "  the  corner-stone  was 
laid  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kohlmann,  Rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church, 
and  Vicar-general  of  the  diocese,  amidst  a  large  and  respectable 
assemblage  of  citizens,  exceeding  three  thousand,"  on  Thuriiday, 
he  8th  of  June,  1809  ;  and,  in  conformitj  with  the  suggestion 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATEL;.  359 

of  tlie  venerable  Archbisliop  Carroll,  the  new  churcn  was  called 
St.  Patrick's. 

Father  Kohlmanu  hoped  to  conclude  the  church  before*  the 
cud  of  the  year,  but  owing  to  various  delays,  the  Cathedral  of 
St.  Patrick  was  not  consecrated  till  Ascension-day,  1815,  when 
the  ilhistrious  Dr.  Cheverus,  Bishop  of  Boston,  performed  that 
ceremony,  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  taking  part  in 
the  procession,  with  the  trnstees  of  St.  Peter's,  who  directed  the 
temporal  affairs  of  the  new  church  till  181*7,  when  the  Legisla- 
ture, by  a  special  act,  created  a  new  board  of  trustees  for  the 
Cathedral.f 

Although  the  functions  of  the  parochial  ministry  must  have 
filled  up  the  days  of  Father  Kohlmann  and  Father  Fenwick,  the 
two  Jesuits  did  not  lose  sight  of  one  great  object  of  their  com- 
ing— the  education  of  youth.  They  had  brought  with  them  four 
young  scholastics  of  their  order,  Michael  White,  James  Red- 
mond, Adam  Marshall,  and  James  Wallace  ;  and  early  in  1809 
opened  a  school,  the  basis  of  a  future  college.  Lots  in  front  of 
the  Cathedral  were  purchased  as  a  site,  and  in  July,  Father 
Kohlmann  wrote  :  "  As  to  our  school,  it  now  consists  of  about 
thirty-five  of  the  most  respectable  children  of  the  city,  both 
Catholics  and  of  other  persuasions,  among  whom  four  are  boari- 
ing  at  our  house,  and  in  all  probability  we  shall  have  seven  or 
eight  boarders  next  August."  This  school  was  transferred  to 
Broadway  in  September,  but  in  the  following  year  removed  ^o 
what  was  then  the  country,  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  I'if- 
teenth-street.  This  rising  college  now  assumed  the  name  of  The 
New  York  Literary  Institution,  and  was  the  instrument  of  im- 
mense good.  A  biographer  of  Bishop  Fenwick,  speaking  of  its 
usefulness,  remarks:  "The  New  York  Literary  Institution,  under 

*  U.  S.  Catholic  Almanac,  1850,  p.  59. 

+  The  acts  bear  date  April  11  and  April  14,  1817.  The  Eoman  Catholio 
Benevolent  Association  was  incorporated  about  the  same  time. 


3G0  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

his  guidance,  reached  an  eminence  scarcely  surpassed  by  any  at 
the  present  day.  Such  was  its  reputation,  even  among  Prot- 
estants, that  Governor  Tompi:ins,  afterwards  Vice-president  of  the 
United  States,  thought  none  more  ehgible  for  the  education  of 
his  own  children,  and  ever  afterwards  professed  towards  its  presi- 
dent the  highest  esteem." 

The  teachers  were  talented  men,  and  Mr.  Wallace,  who  was 
an  excellent  mathematician,  compiled  a  very  full  treatise  on 
Astronomy  and  the  Use  of  the  Globes,*  one  of  the  first  contri- 
butions of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  America  to  exact  science,  a 
field  in  which  Fathers  Curley,  Sestini,  and  others,  have  since  so 
successfully  labored.  Besides  those  already  named,  Father  Peter 
Malou,  and  Mr.  Joseph  Gobert,  lay  teacher,  aided  in  the  work  of 
instruction. 

It  soon  became,  however,  painfully  evident  to  Fathers  Kohlmann 
and  Fenwick,  that  in  the  actual  position  of  the  society,  it  was  im- 
possible for  them  to  carry  on  the  college.  At  this  time,  it  will  be 
remembered,  the  illustrious  Pontiff,  Pius  VII.,  had  not  restored 
to  the  Christian  world  the  Society  of  Jesus ;  it  existed  in  Russia, 
Sicily,  and  America,  but  the  distance  between  these  countries 
prevented  its  development,  and  even  ready  intercourse. 

As  soon  as  the  fact  became  known.  Archbishop  Carroll  and 
his  holy  coadjutor  were  deeply  grieved,  though  both  felt  the  pro- 
priety of  the  step.  The  college  actually  contained  seventy-four 
boarders  in  1813,  and  the  prelates  cough t,  if  possible,  to  maintain 
it,  if  the  Jesuits  withdrew.  Father  John  Grassi,  then  Superior  of 
the  American  Jesuits,  in  a  letter  to  Father  Kohlmann,  exposes 


*  A  New  Treatise  on  the  Use  of  the  G  obes  and  Practioal  Astronomy,  by 
J.  Wallace,  member  of  the  New  York  laterary  Institution.  New  York: 
Smith  &  Forinan,  1812,  512  pp.  James  Wallace,  born  in  Ireland,  about  1783, 
died  on  the  15th  of  January,  1851,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight,  in  Lexington 
District,  South  Carolina.  He  was  for  many  years  Professor  of  Mathematics 
in  the  college  at  Columbia,  S.  C,  occasionally,  however,  exercising  the  min- 
istry. 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  361 

the  interest  felt  concerning  this  institution  of  learning  *.  "  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Marechal,  a  Sulpitian,  paid  a  short  visit  to  this  college 
(Georgetown).  It  is  confidently  asserted  that  he  is  to  be  Bishop 
of  New  York,  and  the  great  concern  he  showed  for  the  Literary 
Institution  confirms  me  in  this  idea.  I  exposed  to  him  our  situa- 
tion, the  w^ant  of  members,  and  he  was  sensible  that  such  an  in- 
stitution is  onus  insupportabile  for  us,  in  our  present  circum- 
stances, and  for  several  years  to  come.  I  consulted  again,  quite 
lately,  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Carroll  on  this  very  subject ; 
and  he  answered,  that  as  the  want  of  proper  persons  to  carry  it 
on  is  evident,  this  ought  to  be  represented  to  those  who  are  con- 
cerned in  it." 

The  Fathers  could  not  foresee  the  speedy  restoration  of  their 
Society,  nor  its  subsequent  wonderful  progress.  In  the  summer 
of  1813,  they  retired  from  the  direction  of  the  college,  in  which 
they  had  endeared  themselves  to  their  pupils  and  won  the  admi- 
ration of  the  best  families  in  the  city,  Protestant  as  well  as 
Catholic. 

Another  religious  order  was  at  this  moment  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  and  to  their  care  the  Fathers  of  St.  Ignatius  resigned  the 
care  of  the  college  which  they  had  created.  This  order  was  the 
monks  of  La  Trappe,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  hereafter.  Mean- 
while, we  return  to  the  apostolic  labors  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Society  of  Jecus. 

The  two  eminent  Jesuits,  Father  Benedict  Fenwick  and  Father 
Anthony  Kohlmann,  were  only  a  few  months  at  New  York,  when 
they  were  called  to  the  death-bed  of  one  of  the  greatest  enemies 
of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  infidel  who  played  in  America 
the  part  of  Voltaire  in  France,  .md  who  had  the  odious  glory  of 
creating  in  the  New  World  a  school  of  anti-Christian  philosophy. 
The  visit  of  the  two  priests  inspired  the  dying  man  with  no  salu- 
tary reflections.  He  was  already  abandoned  by  God,  and  given 
ap  to  despair ;  but  the  details  of  this  interview,  nevertheless,  de- 

16 


362  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

Berve  to  be  kuown,  to  show  to  what  an  a^A  ful  state  of  degradation 
iuipiety  falls,  when  in  the  presence  of  death. 

Thomas  Paine,  born  in  Norfolkshire,  England,  on  the  29th  of 
January,  ITS'?,  was  successively  a  staymaker,  a  political  wTiter 
in  America,  an  envoy  from  Congress  to  Louis  XVI.,  and  finally, 
representative  of  Calais  at  the  National  Convention.  This  cos- 
mopolitan philoGopher,  who  did  not  even  speak  French,  neverthe- 
less sat  as  judge  on  the  king,  whose  favor  he  had  gone  to  seek 
eleven  years  before.  Returning  to  private  life,  Paine  wrote  in 
France  his  infamous  work,  "  The  Age  of  Reason,"  in  which  he 
attacks  revelation,  and  preaches  up  natural  religion.  His  disso- 
lute life  having  discredited  him  at  Paris,  he  returned  to  the 
United  States,  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  century. 
Here  he  published  works  hostile  to  religion,  and  died,  consumed 
by  his  debaucheries,  at  Greenwich  Village,  near  New  York,  on 
the  8th  of  June,  1809. 

A  fortnight  before  his  death,  the  philosopher,  seeing  himself 
abandoned  by  his  physicians,  was  plunged  into  a  gloomy  despair. 
Amid  the  silence  of  the  night,  he  was  heard  crying,  "  Lord  ! 
help  me  !  My  God,  what  have  I  done  to  suffer  so  ?  But  there 
is  no  God.  Yet,  if  there  is  a  God  what  will  become  of  me  ?" 
He  could  not  bear  to  be  left  alone,  and  begged  to  have  at  least 
a  child  near  the  bed,  in  which  he  wallowed  in  abject  filth. 
Seeking  new  remedies  in  every  direction,  Paine  saw  a  Shaking 
Quakeress,  whom  Father  Fenwick  had  baptized  some  weeks  bf>- 
fore  ;  and  she  told  him  that  no  one  but  a  Catholic  priest  could 
do  ":*.m  any  good.  The  wretched  freethinker,  who  cared  only 
'lo:  h'.s  body,  immediately  believed  that  a  priest  might  prolong 
for  a  few  days  his  wretched  existence ;  and  he  immediately  sent 
for  Father  Fenwick.  The  latter,  who  wfis  then  only  twenty-six 
years  of  age,  dreaded  his  OAvn  inexperience,  and  begged  his  col- 
league. Father  Kohlmann,  to  accompany  him,  and  the  two  Jes- 
uits proceeded  to  the  house  of  the  infidel.     But  as  soon  as_ Paine 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  3G3 

BMW  his  error — as  soon  as  he  heard  his  pious  visitors  epeak  to 
him  of  his  soul,  instead  of  prescribing  a  remedy  for  his  physical 
evils,  he  imperiously  silenced  them,  refused  to  listen,  and  ordered 
them  out  of  the  room.  "  Paine  was  roused  into  a  fury,"  wrote 
Father  Fenwick,  giving  an  account  of  this  inter^^ew  :  "  he  grit- 
ted his  teeth,  twisted  and  turned  himself  several  times  in  his  bed, 
uttering  all  the  while  the  bitterest  imprecations.  I  firmly  be- 
lieve, such  was  the  rage  in  which  he  was  at  this  time,  that  if  he 
had  had  a  pistol,  he  would  have  shot  one  of  us  ;  for  he  conduct- 
ed himself  more  like  a  madman  than  a  rational  creature.  '  Be- 
gone,' says  he,  '  and  trouble  me  no  more.  I  wa&  in  peace,'  he 
continued,  '  till  you  came.  Away  with  you,  and  your  God,  too ; 
leave  the  room  instantly  :  all  that  you  have  uttered  are  lies — 
filthy  lies ;  and  if  I  had  a  little  more  time  I  would  prove  it,  as  I 
did  about  your  impostor,  Jesus  Christ.'  'Let  us  go,'  said  I  then, 
to  Father  Kohlmann  :  '  we  have  nothing  more  to  do  here.  He 
seems  to  be  entirely  abandoned  by  God  !'  "* 

Thomas  Paine  soon  expired,  in  the  anguish  of  despair,  having 
repulsed  the  ministers  of  Protestantism  as  obstinately  as  he  drove 
away  the  Catholic  priests.  For  him,  as  for  Voltaire,  death  was 
the  most  fearful  of  trials ;  and  the  recollection  of  their  blasphe- 
mies haunted  both  in  their  last  moments,  and  made  them  en- 
dure by  anticipation  the  tortures  of  another  life.  They  knew 
only  remorse,  for  their  pride  closed  the  way  to  repentance.  In 
both  cases,  priests  came  with  unequalled  charity  to  save  these 
souls  from  the  flames  of  hell ;  for  priestly  devotedness  braves 
the  outrages  of  the  dying  infidel,  as  it  does  the  miasma  of  con- 
tagion at  the  bed  of  the  plague-stricken.  In  France,  Voltaire 
has  lost  the  glitter  of  his  popularity ;  but  in  America,  the  wide« 


*  Death-bed  of  Tom  Paine.  Extract  from  a  letter  of  Bishop  Fenwick  to 
his  brother  in  Georgetown  College.  U.  S.  Catholic  Magazine,  v.  558.  Tna 
Biographie  Universelle  mentions  briefly  his  interview  with  two  Catholic 
priests. 


364  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

spread  sect  of  infidels  more  and  more  honor  the  memory  of 
Paine,  as  the  greatest  benefactor  of  hmnanity.  The  anniversary 
of  his  birth  is  celebrated  by  the  partisans  of  his  impiety.  They 
assemble  at  gorgeous  banquets  and  festivities  :  ladies,  children, 
whole  families,  take  part  in  these  glorifications  of  atheism.  They 
drink  to  the  extinction  of  all  religions,  to  the  overthrow  of  all 
priesthood,  and,  blaspheming  the  name  of  God,  dance  on  the 
very  threshold  of  eternity. 

Some  years  later.  Father  Kohlmann  had  occasion  to  render  an 
important  service  to  religion  by  firmly  resisting  the  orders  of  a 
tribunal,  which  called  upon  him  to  reveal  the  secrets  of  the  con- 
fessional. This  aflfair,  w^hich  produced  a  great  sensation  in  the 
United  States,  suddenly  arose,  from  a  combination  of  very  com- 
monplace circumstances.  A  Catholic  merchant,  Mr.  James  Keat- 
ing, entered  a  complaint,  in  the  month  of  March,  1813,  against 
a  man  named  Phillips,  and  his  wife,  for  receiving  stolen  goods, 
which  belonged  to  him.  Soon  after,  two  negroes,  Bradley  and 
Brinkerhofi",  were  suspected  of  being  the  thieves ;  but  before 
the  trial  came  on,  Mr.  Keating  recovered  his  property,  and  asked 
to  have  the  case  dismissed.  This  was  out  of  the  question ;  and 
on  being  asked  his  reasons,  Keating  stated  that  restitution  had 
been  made  to  him  through  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kohlmann,  who  was 
immediately  cited  as  a  witness,  to  prove  from  whom  he  had  re- 
ceived the  stolen  property.  Father  Kohlmann  appeared,  but 
declined  to  answer,  denying  the  right  of  the  court  to  question  a 
priest  as  to  facts  which  are  unkno^vn  to  him  except  through  the 
confessional.  He  availed  himself  of  the  circumstance  to  set 
forth  at  length  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  on  the  sacrament  of 
penance ;  and  his  discourse,  heard  with  attention  by  a  vast  throng, 
was  spread  and  commented  on  by  the  press,  provoking  passion- 
ate discussions  on  the  part  of  several  Protestant  ministers.  The 
question  of  the  admissibility  of  the  evidence,  and  of  the  right  of 
exemption  claimed  by  Father  Kohlmann,  were  now  a  more  iro- 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  865 

portant  matter  than  the  conviction  of  two  negroes.  A  day  was 
appointed  for  the  argument  of  the  point  whether  Father  Kohl- 
mann  should  be  committed  for  contempt  of  court  in  refusing  to 
answer.  The  pleading  of  the  counsel,  the  deliberation  of  the 
judges,  the  thousand  technicalities  of  American  .la.v,  prolonged 
the  aftair  for  two  months ;  and  at  last,  on  the  14th  .->{  June,  1813, 
the  Honorable  De  V/itt  Clinton,  Mayor  of  the  city,  and  President 
of  the  Court  of  General  Sessions,  pronounced  the  decision  of  the 
court.  After  some  reflections  remarkable  for  the  wisdom  of  their 
views  and  a  spirit  of  liberality  in  favor  of  the  Catholic  religion, 
this  distinguished  man  concluded  that  a  priest  could  not  be  called 
upon  to  testify  as  to  facts  known  to  him  only  by  virtue  of  his 
ministry ;  and  his  opinion  concludes  with  these  words : 

"  We  speak  of  this  question  not  in  a  theological  sense,  but  in 
its  legal  and  constitutional  bearings.  Although  we  differ  from 
the  wdtness  and  his  brethren  in  our  religious  creed,  yet  we  have 
no  reason  to  question  the  purity  of  their  motives,  or  to  impeach 
their  good  conduct  as  citizens.  They  are  protected  by  the  laws 
and  constitution  of  this  country,  in  the  full  and  free  exercise  of 
their  religion ;  and  this  court  can  never  countenance  or  author- 
ize the  application  of  insult  to  their  faith,  or  of  torture  to  their 
consciences."* 

The  principle  maintained  by  Father  Kohlmann  was  thus  adopt- 
ed by  the  tribunal ;  but  it  might,  like  any  other  solution  of  juris- 
prudence, be  again  called  in  question.  However,  in  1828,  when 
De  Witt  Clinton  was  governor  of  the  State,  the  Legislature  of 
New  York,  in  its  Revised  Statutes,  adopted  a  clause  which  pre- 
vented any  renewal  of  the  attempt,  by  deciding  that  "  no  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel,  or  priest  of  any  denomination  whatsoever, 
shall  be  allowed  to  disclose  any  confessions  made  to  him  in  his 

*  The  Catholic  Question  in  America : — Whether  a  Roman  Catliolic  Clergy- 
man be,  m  any  case,  compelled  to  disclose  the  Secrets  of  Auricular  Confes- 
sion     New  York  :   Edward  Gillespie,  1813,  p.  114. 


366  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

professional  character,  in  tlie  course  of  discipline  enjoined  by  tlie 
rules  or  practice  of  such  denomination."*  Yet  this  law  has  no 
force  beyond  the  limits  of  the  State  of  New  York ;  and  a  simi- 
lar discussion,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  took  place  in  Virginia  in 
1855,  proves  that  other  States  need  to  imitate  New  York,  and 
fill  up  this  omission  in  their  code. 

Father  Kohlmann  published  the  whole  proceeding,  followed 
by  a  very  full  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  on  the 
sacrament  of  penance  ;  and  this  book  excited  several  refutations 
from  the  Protestant  clergy.  The  most  elaborate  was  that  from 
the  pen  of  the  Rev.  Charles  H.  Wharton,f  who,  after  having  been 


*  E.  S.,  Pt.  iii.,  Ch.  vii.,  Art.  8,  Sec.  72. 

It  is  an  error  in  Cretineau  Joly  to  represent  this  as  a  question  of  life  or 
death  for  Catholicity.  No  :  Catholicity  would  not  be  dead  in  America  if  the 
court  had  ordered  the  Jesuit  to  reveal  the  secret  of  the  confessional.  As 
Father  Kohlmann  would  have  refused,  he  would  have  heen  condemned  to 
imprisonment  for  his  contempt  during  the  term  of  the  court,  and  no  longer. 
The  law  of  1828  has  not  been  imitated  in  other  States  which  have  no  law  to 
protect  the  conscience  of  the  clergyman  ;  yet  the  recent  affair  at  Eichmoud 
is  almost  the  only  example,  since  Father  Kohlmann's,  in  which  a  court  has 
sought  to  intrude  between  the  priest  and  his  penitent.  The  case  in  1813  is 
important  chiefly  from  the  fact  that  it  drew  the  attention  of  Protestants  to 
the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  gave  a  wide  circulation  to  Father  Kohl- 
mann's eloquent  exposition. 

t  Charles  H.  Wharton,  born  in  Maryland  in  1748,  was  ordained  in  England 
in  1760.  He  was  pastor  at  Worcester  when,  in  1783,  he  left  his  parish  and 
came  back  to  America.  The  next  year  he  published  "  A  Letter  to  the  Eoman 
Catliolics  of  Worcester,"  to  announce  that  he  had  gone  over  to  Protestantism, 
and  justifying  the  step.  The  Eev.  John  Carroll  replied,  in  "  An  Address 
to  tlie  Eoman  Catholics  of  the  United  States  of  America,  by  a  Catholic  Cler- 
gyman," Annapolis,  1784;  and  this  noble  refutation  confirmed  the  minds  of 
Catholics,  disquieted  and  mortified  at  Wharton's  apostasy.  That  gentleman 
became  Episcopal  minister  at  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  where  he  resided  till 
his  death  in  1833,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six.  He  was  twice  married,  and  died 
before  the  arrival  of  a  priest  for  whom  he  had  sent.  Strange  to  say,  the 
man  who  so  combated  confession,  heard  a  confession  and  gave  absolution  in 
1832.  His  Catholic  servant-girl,  dangerously  sick,  was  begging  for  a  priest; 
none  could  be  found ;  and  Mr.  Wharton  told  her,  "  Although  I  am  a  minis- 
ter, I  am  also  a  Catholic  priest,  and  can  give  absolution  in  your  case ;"  which 
be  accordingly  did.  His  controversy  with  Carroll  is  published  under  the 
title,  "A  Concise  View  of  the  Principal  Points  of  Controversy  between  tho 


IN"   THE    UNITED   STATES.  367 

a  priest  for  twenty-four  years,  fell,  unhappily,  into  apostasy. 
This  man,  now  quite  aged,  seeing  the  effect  produced  by  "  The 
Catholic  Question,"  seized  his  envenomed  pen  to  defame  anew 
the  faith  of  his  ancestors.  His  pamphlet  drew  a  learned  reply 
from  the  Rev.  S.  F.  O'Gallagher,*  a  Catholic  priest  of  Charleston, 
to  which  Wharton  retorted  in  a  second  pamphlet.  The  length 
and  duration  of  this  controversy  show  how  widely  had  been 
spread  the  defence  of  Father  Kohlmann  ;  and  the  learned  Jesuit 
followed  up  this  work  by  a  more  extended  publication,  in  refuta- 
tion of  the  errors  of  the  modem  Arians,  known  in  the  United 
States  as  Unitarians. 

In  the  widowed  state  in  which  the  Church  of  New  York  lan- 
guished, deprived  of  a  bishop,  Fathers  Fenwick  and  Kohlmann 
neglected  nothing  to  prevent  the  Church  from  suffering  from  the 
vacancy  of  the  See  ;  and  as  they  had  sought  to  provide  for  the 
education  of  young  men,  so,  too,  they  actively  endeavored  to 
meet  the  wants  of  the  other  sex.  We  read  in  a  letter  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Brute  to  Bishop  Flaget,  on  the  15th  of  April,  1812  : 
"  Two  L'ish  priests  have  just  arrived  at  New  York  ;  one  of  them 
of  great  merit,  the  archbishop  says.  With  these  two  gentlemen 
came  three  Ursulines  for  Mr.  Kohlmann,  who  wished  to  found  a 


Protestant  and  Koman  Churches,  by  the  Kev.  C.  H.  Wharton,  D.  D.  New 
York,  1817." 

*  "  A  Brief  Reply  to  a  Short  Answer  to  a  True  Exposition  of  the  Doctrine 
of  the  Catholic  Church  touching  the  Sacrament  of  Penance,  by  S.  F.  O'Gal- 
lagher.     New  York,  1815." 

In  1793,  the  Kev.  Dr.  O'Gallagher,  a  native  of  Dublin,  was  sent  to 
Charleston  by  Bishop  Carroll,  and  Bishop  England  calls  him  a  man  of  ex- 
traordinary eloquence,  of  a  superior  intellect,  and  finely  cultivated  mind. 
"  Wliile  zealously  exercising  tlie  duties  of  tlie  ministr\',  he  was  obliged  to 
teach  for  his  support.  In  the  Life  of  the  celebrated  Attorney-general,  Hugh 
Swinton  Legare,  it  is  related  that  no  competent  Latin  teacher  could  be 
found  for  this  descendant  of  the  Huguenots  but  Dr.  O'Gallaghcr.  This 
missionary  was  sent  to  Savannah  in  1817,  and  some  years  after  went  to 
Louisiana."  Bishop  England's  Works,  iii.  251.  Waitings  of  Hugh  Swintoi> 
Legare,  i.  xii. 


368  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

convent  with  tliem."  These  three  religious,  limed  Christina 
Fagan  (Sister  Mary  Ann),  Superior,  Sarah  Walsh  (Sister  Frances 
de  Chantal),  and  Mary  Baldwin  (Sister  Maiy  Paul),  are  the  first 
who  have  resided  in  the  diocese  of  New  York.  They  came  from 
the  celebrated  Blackrock  convent  at  Cork,  in  Ireland,  and  were 
obtained  by  Father  Kohlmann  through  Father  Betagh,  of  Lon- 
don ;  and  notwithstanding  the  short  duration  of  their  establish- 
ment, which  did  not  exceed  three  years,  they  deserve  that  we 
should  give  a  brief  account  of  their  too  little  known  Institute. 

From  the  destruction  of  the  monasteries  by  Henry  VIII.  till 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Ireland  possessed,  so  to 
say,  no  religious  community  of  women  ;  and,  as  is  known,  all 
Catholic  teaching  was  forbidden,  under  the  severest  penalties. 
About  IVGO,  a  holy  young  woman.  Miss  Nano  Nagle,*  touched 
at  the  wants  of  the  people,  resolved  to  devote  herself  to  the  edu 
cation  of  poor  children,  and  secretly  opened  schools,  first  at  Dub- 
lin, and  afterwards  at  Cork.  Some  companions  joined  her  in 
this  good  work  ;  but,  to  give  it  permanence,  it  was  necessary  to 
bind  them  by  the  vows  of  religion,  and  following  the  advice  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Moylan,f  afterwards  Bishop  of  Cork,  four  of  them 
set  out  for  Paris,  to  make  their  novitiate  with  the  Ursulines  at 
St.  Jacques.  They  began  it  on  the  5th  of  September,  1*769,  and 
on  the  18th  of  September,  iVTl,  took  possession  of  the  house 


*  Miss  Nano  Nagle,  born  at  BallygriflSn,  on  the  banks  of  the  Black- 
water,  in  1728,  belonged  to  a  distinguished  Irish  family.  She  died  April 
26,  1784. 

t  Colonel  Moylan,  aid-de-carap  to  Washington  during  the  Revolutionary 
"War,  was  brother  of  this  bishop.  Washington  attached  him,  for  a  time,  to 
the  person  of  the  Marquis  de  Chastellux,  major-general  in  Eochambeau's 
army  ;  and  the  marquis  says,  in  his  memoirs,  "Colonel  Moylan  is  a  Catholic. 
One  of  his  brothers  is  Bishop  of  Cork,  anotlaer  a  merchant  at  Cadiz,  a  third 
a  merchant  at  L'Orient,  a  fourth  at  home,  and  a  fifth  studying  for  the  priest- 
hood." The  Bishop  of  Cork  had  also  a  sister.  Miss  Louisa  Moylan,  who 
was  the  first  to  join  the  Ursulines  on  their  arrival  at  Cork  in  1771,  whero  she 
i4ied  in  1842,  at  the  age  of  nin-ety. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  369 

which  had  been  prepared  for  their  reception  at  Cork.  It  -was 
not,  however,  till  17*79  that  they  ventured  to  assume  the  habit 
of  their  order,  so  great  was  the  dread  of  the  penal  laws  under 
which  Ireland  then  groaned. 

Miss  Nagle  had  not  accompanied  her  companions  to  France, 
but  had  continued  to  direct  her  schools  in  Ireland,  and  on  the 
return  of  the  young  Ursulines  to  Cork,  joined  the  community  ot 
which  she  is  regarded  as  the  foundress.  She  soon,  however,  per- 
ceived that  her  vocation  called  her  to  devote  herself  exclusively 
to  poor  children,  while  the  Institute  of  the  Ursulines  undertakes 
principally  the  education  of  the  more  wealthy  classes.  Miss 
JVagle  accordingly  left  the  Ursulines,  and  recruited  new  auxilia- 
ries, who  became,  with  hei-,  the  root  of  the  Presentation  order. 
It  was  only  after  her  death,  and  in  vSeptember,  1791,  that  Pope 
Pius  VI.  approved  the  object  of  the  Institute,  and  recognized  its 
existence.  That  of  the  Ursulines  had  been  approved  by  Pope 
Clement  XIV.,  on  the  13th  of  January,  1773  ;  so  that  the  same 
lady  has  the  glory  of  having  founded  two  communities  which 
now  cover  Ireland  with  convents,  and  which  have  endowed  the 
United  States  with  their  academies  and  schools.* 

The  Ursulines  of  New  York  were  incorporated  by  an  act  ot 
the  Legislature,  on  the  26th  of  March,  1814,  and  even  prior  to 
that,  they  had  opened  an  academy  and  poor-school.  But  they 
had  come  to  America  on  the  express  condition,  that  if  in  three 
years  they  did  not  receive  a  certain  number  of  novices,  they 
should  return  to  Ireland.  The  Catholics  were  poor,  vocations 
few  and  among  the  young  women  who  would  have  entered, 
none  could  furnish  the  dowry  required  by  the  Ursulines.     They 


*  The  Life  of  Miss  Nano  Nagle,  Foundress  of  tlie  Presentation  order,  by 
the  late  Right  Kev.  Dr.  Coppinger,  Bishop  of  Cloyne  and  Eoss  :  Dublin; 
1843.  Dublin  Review  for  1844,  p.  363-386.  There  were  in  Irehvnd,  in  1844, 
Tour  Ursuline  convents,  and  thirty  of  the  Order  of  the  Pret^entation  ;  and 
the  number  has  greatly  increased  there  and  in  the  colonics  since. 

16-^ 


370  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

accordingly  left  New  York  at  the  expiration  of  the  term  fixed 
upon,  and  it  was  not  till  1855  that  religious  of  the  same  order, 
coming  from  St.  Louis,  restored  to  the  diocese  of  New  York  the 
daughters  of  St.  Angela.  The  convent  of  1812  was  situated 
near  the  Third  Avenue,  about  50th-street,  and  was  afterwards 
occupied  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Huddard,  a  Protestant  clergyman,  as  a 
boarding-school.* 

The  Ursulines  had  for  some  time  as  chaplains  the  Trappist 
Fathers,  of  whom  we  have  spoken ;  but  the  stay  of  these  sons 
of  St.  Bernard  was  only  temporary.  The  storm  of  persecution 
drove  them  to  the  New  World;  and  when  the  tempest  had 
bpent  its  fury,  they  returned  to  the  European  monasteries  from 
which  they  had  been  driven.  In  1*791,  the  French  Government 
having  seized  the  propei-ty  of  the  monks  of  La  Trappe,f  tw^enty- 
four  of  the  religious,  guided  by  Dom  Augustine,  sought  a  refuge 
at  Val  Sainte,  in  the  canton  of  Fribourg,  where  they  were  nobl}' 
welcomed  by  the  cantonal  authorities.  They  arrived  there  on 
the  1st  of  June,  1791,  and  under  the  able  administration  of  Dom 
.Vugustiue,  they  had  gathered  their  brethren,  dispersed  by  the 
Reign  of  Terror,  and  sent  colonies  in  various  directions,  when 
the  invasion  of  Switzerland  by  a  French  army  compelled  the 
Trappists  to  abandon  in  all  haste  their  holy  asylum,  in  the 
month  of  February,  T798.  They  wandered  in  various  parts  of 
Bavaria  and  Austria,  without  finding  a  spot  to  i est  their  weary 


*  The  Ursuline  order  was  founded  in  l.")37,  at  Brescia,  diocese  of  Verona, 
by  Angela  Merici,  born  in  1511,  at  Dezenzano,  on  tlie  Lago  de  Garda.  She 
died  in  1540,  and  was  canonized  in  1S07.  She  put  her  spiritual  daughters 
under  the  protection  of  St.  Ursula,  who  had,  about  450,  governed  so  many 
virgins,  and  led  them  to  martyrdom. 

■*■  The  Abbey  of  Our  Lady  of  Tia  Trappe  is  situated  in  the  department  of 
Orne,  near  Mortaque.  Founded  in  the  year  1140,  and  occupied  by  monks  of 
the  Order  of  Citeaux,  it  was  reformed,  in  1662,  by  the  Abbe  de  Ranco.  The 
name  of  La  Trappe  has  since  been  given  to  all  the  monasteries  which  have 
adopted  the  reform  of  Abbe  de  Ranee.  In  1791  there  were  at  La  Trappe 
fifty-five  choir  monks  and  thirty-seven  lay-brothers. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATEt^.  371 

heads,  till  at  last  the  Emperor  Paul  I.  promised  them  hospitality 
in  his  States,  and  the  courageous  monks  arrived  in  Russia  in 
August^  1*799.  But  their  quiet  was  not  to  be  of  long  duration. 
The  following  year,  the  Czar  issued  a  ukase,  ordering  all  French 
emigrants  to  leave  his  States,  and  the  Trappists  resumed  their 
route  on  the  13th  of  April,  1800.  Austria  closed  its  frontiers  to 
Dom  Augustine  and  his  companions  ;  they  had  humbly  to  a'^k 
a  refuge  from  Protestant  Prussia,  which  temporarily  granted  the 
favor  so  brutally  refused  by  Catholic  x\ustria.  Then  it  was  that 
the  Trappists  resolved  to  seek  an  asylum  in  America;  and  a 
party  of  them,  under  the  guidance  of  Father  Urban  Guillet,  em- 
barked at  Amsterdam  for  Baltimore  on  the  29th  of  May,  1803. 
They  arrived  on  the  4th  of  September,  and  after  a  brief  sojourn 
at  Pigeon  Hill,  in  Pcnnsjdvania,  set  out  for  Kentucky  in  the 
month  of  July,  1805.  The  story  of  their  labors  in  that  State 
and  in  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Louis  will  find  its  place,  in  due 
time,  in  another  part  of  this  history. 

Meanwhile,  the  horizon  cleared  for  a  moment  on  the  Trappists 
in  Europe.  The  deliverance  of  Switzerland,  in  1804,  soon  per- 
mitted the  monks  to  return  to  Val  Sainte,  and  in  1805  Napo- 
leon granted  them  authority  to  establish  themselves  in  his  em- 
pire. Mount  Valerian,  which  rises  at  the  gates  of  Paris,  soon 
beheld  a  monastery  of  this  austere  order  arise,  and  the  disper- 
sion caused  by  the  Reign  of  Terror  seemed  repaired ;  but  when 
the  emperor  began  to  persecute  and  imprison  the  Pope,  he  could 
not  find  accomplices  in  the  fervent  disciples  of  the  Abbe  de 
Ranee. 

In  1810,  Dom  Augustine  having  made  his  monks  solemnly 
retract  the  oath  of  fidelity  taken  to  the  constitution  of  the  em- 
pire, Xapoleon,  provoked  at  the  step,  ordered  all  the  houses  of 
i.a  Trappe  to  be  closed,  and  the  courageous  abbot  to  be  tried  by 
court-martial.  Dom  Augustine  would  have  been  shot,  but  he 
succeeded  in  escaping  to  Switzerland ;  and  thence,  traversing-  Ger- 


372  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

many,  purs«3u  '"j  the  imperial  police,  embarked  at  Riga  for 
Eudand,  and  then  at  London  for  the  United  States.  There  he 
found  a  second  colony  of  Trappists  awaiting  him.  Father  Vin- 
cent of  Paul,  Superior  of  the  house  at  Bordeaux,  had  left  France 
with  two  monks  and  one  Trappist  nun,  on  the  closing  of  the  con- 
vents in  1810,  and  arrived  at  Boston  on  the  6th  of  August,  1811. 

Bishop  Cheverus  received  them  with  his  usual  goodness — 
lodged  tliem  in  his  house,  and  offered  them  a  generous  hospi- 
tality as  long  as  they  stayed  at  Boston.  Father  Vincent  trav- 
elled to  severf..  parts  to  find  a  suitable  abode,  and  choose  among 
the  lands  offered  to  him.  Pennsylvania  presented  nothing  to 
suit  him,  and  at  last,  with  others  of  the  brethren  from  Europe, 
he  installed  himself  at  Port  Tobacco,  in  Maryland,  on  a  tract 
selected  by  the  Archbishop  and  the  Sulpitians  of  Baltimore. 
The  Trappists  immediately  began  their  agricultural  labors,  which 
were  interrupted  by  disease  ;  and  these  trials  obliged  them  to 
retire  to  Baltimore,  where  the  venerable  Abbe  Moranville,  pas- 
tor of  St.  Patrick's,  showed  them  the  most  generous  hospitality. 

Towards  the  close  of  1813,  Dom  Augustine  arrived  at  New 
York,  and  resolved  to  take  up  his  residence  in  the  neighborhood 
of  that  city.  He  accordingly  ordered  Father  Urban  to  leave 
Missouri,  and  join  him  at  New  York.  Father  Vincent  de  Paul 
received  the  same  instructions,  and  ere  long  all  the  American 
Trappists  were  united  in  a  single  community.  Doir.  Augustine, 
purchased  for  ten  thousand  dollars  a  large  piece  of  property, 
and  gave  the  ho'  se  the  form  of  an  abbey.  "  Thirty-one  poor 
children,  almost  all  orphans,  there  found  instruction  and  the 
necessaries  of  life.  A  community  of  Trappist  nuns  was  founded 
by  the  same  zeal,  and  supported  by  the  same  vigilance.  Finally, 
at  three  or  four  miles  distance,  was  an  Ursuline  convent,  which 
derived  great  advantage  from  the  arrival  of  Dom  Augustine. 
These  holy  sisters  had  no  priest  to  attend  them  ;  the  persecution 
wiiirh  drove  the  Trappists  from  the  French  empire  gave  them 


IN   THE    U]SITED   STATES.  oi6 

many.  Omnia  2)ro2)ter  electos!'''*  Father  Vincent  de  Paul  was 
appointed  to  go  there  every  Sunday  and  holiday  to  hear  confes- 
sions and  say  Mass. 

The  Trappist  nuns,  who  also  had  a  temporary  establishment 
at  New  York,  were  founded  in  1786,  in  Bas  Valais,  by  Dora 
Augustine.  This  holy  abbot,  seeing  that  a  host  of  nuns  of  va- 
rious orders  had  been  driven  from  France  for  their  fidelity  to 
their  vows,  resolved  to  gather  these  fragments  of  other  insti- 
tutes scattered  in  a  foreign  land.  Under  the  new  name  of 
Trappist  nuns,  he  reconstituted  the  Cistercian  nuns ;  and  as 
Uumbeline,  Sister  of  St.  Bernard,  had,  by  her  example,  induced 
the  convent  of  Grully  to  embrace  the  observance  of  Citeaux,  so 
Mademoiselle  Lestrange  generously  seconded  the  zeal  and  pro- 
jects of  her  brother.  The  austerities  of  the  rule,  moreover,  al- 
lured the  Princess  Louise  Adelaide  de  Conde,  who  became  the 
Trappist  Sister  Mary  Joseph  ;  and  her  vocation  was  most 
precious  to  the  whole  order  of  La  Trappe  ;  for  it  was  purely 
from  respect  for  this  grand-daughter  of  Louis  XV.  that  the  Czar 
permitted  the  fugitive  Trappists  to  rest  in  his  States.  Li  all 
the  vicissitudes  of  this  period,  the  nuns  of  La  Trappe  felt  every 
blow  directed  against  the  monks;  and  in  this  way  several  of  the 
Sisters  sought  refuge  at  New  York. 

Meanwhile,  the  fall  of  Napoleon  opened  France  to  the  Trap 
^ists,  at  the  same  time  that  it  delivered  the  "Church.  Dom  Au- 
gustine availed  himself  of  the  moment  to  restore  to  his  native 
land  the  order  of  St.  Bernard,  convinced  that  his  efforts  would 
be  more  successful  in  the  Old  "Word.  Leaving  Father  Yiucent 
de  Paul,  with  six  brothers,  to  wind  up  their  aff;iirs  in  New  York, 
he  embaiked  for  Havre  in  October,  1814,  with  twelve  monks, 
the   Sisters,   and  pupils.      Father  Urban   Guillet  sailed   at  the 


*  Les  T^applstes  ou  TOrdre  de  Citeaux  au  XIX.  Siecle,  par  Casimir  Gaillar« 
din,  ii.  S3R. 


37tl:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

same  tirae  for  Rochelle,  with  fifteen  monks;  and  in  the  follow- 
ing May  the  rest  set  sail  for  Halifax,  wlience  they  proceeded  tc 
France.  By  an  accident,  however,  Father  Vincent  de  Paul  ?9ae. 
left  on  shore,  and  founded  La  Trappe  at  Tracadie,  in  Nova  Sco- 
tia.'^ During  their  stay  in  the  United  States,  the  Trappist  nuns 
had  formed  several  novices ;  but  as  these  preferred  not  to  leave 
the  country,  they  obtained  entrance  among  the  Sisters  of  Charity, 
through  the  influence  of  Rev.  Mr.  Morauville.f  The  monks, 
too,  had  accessions ;  among  others,  a  pastor  from  Canada,  who 
took  the  name  of  Father  Mary  Bernard,  and  who  eflfected  much 
good  in  the  West  by  his  preaching. J; 

Thus  did  the  long  vacancy  of  the  See  from  1810  to  1815  de- 
feat the  estabhshment  of  the  Dominicans,  Ursulines,  and  Trap- 
pists.  Doubtless,  had  a  bishop  then  watched  over  the  interests 
of  the  diocese,  religion  would  have  prospered  much  sooner,  and 
the  prelate  would  have  taken  measures  to  secure  the  communi- 
ties which  had  already  planted  their  tents  there.  Napoleon,  by 
persecuting  the  Church  and  imprisoning  the  Holy  Father,  caused 
fatal  delay  in  the  election  of  Bishop  Concanen's  successor ;  and 
if  a  single  diocese,  so  remote  from  the  centre  of  Christianity, 
had  so  much  to  suffer  from  the  emperor's  invasion  of  the  rights 
of  the  Holy  See,  we  may  conceive  their  deplorable  effects  on 
the  whole  Christian  world. 


*  Louis  Henri  de  Lestrange  (Dom  Augustine)  was  born  in  Vivarais,  in 
1754,  and  on  his  nomination  as  coadjutor  to  the  Arelibishop  of  Vienne,  in 
1780,  retired  to  La  Trappe,  to  become  the  saviour  of  the  order  during  tlie 
revolution,  and  founder  of  the  Trappist  nuns.  He  died  at  Lyons,  July 
IG,  1827. 

t  Sister  Mary  .Joseph  Llewellyn  and  Sister  Scholastica  Bean,  of  Emmets- 
burg,  had  been  Trappist  nuns.  Another,  unable  to  remain  at  Emmetslurg, 
from  ill  health,  still  survives. 

X  Louis  Antoine  Langlois  Germain,  born  at  Quebec,  November  25,  1767, 
vas  ordained  in  1791,  and  successively  acted  ac?  Curate  of  Quebec,  Pastor 
cf  Isle  aux  Coudres,  and  Chaplain,  Director  of  the  Ursulines.  In  1806,  1:3 
joined  the  Trnppists  at  Baltimore,  and  died  on  the  28th  of  Noverr.1  er,  1S.L0, 
in  high  reput"  for  sanctity  and  austerity. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  375 


•    CHAPTER    XXIV. 

DmCESE    OF    NEW    YORK (1815-1842). 

Riirht  RcT.  John  Connolly,  second  Bishop  of  New  York— Condition  of  the  diocese— 
blcetch  of  the  Kev.  P.  A.  Malon— Bishop  Connolly'3  first  acts— His  clergy— Tiio  Eov 
Mr  Taylor,  and  his  amhitious  designs— Conversions— Tlie  Kev.  John  Richard— Spread 
of  Catholicity— Death  of  Bishop  Connolly— Very  Eev.  John  Power,  Administrator- 
Eight  Eev.  John  Dubois,  third  Bishop  of  New  York— Visitation  of  liis  diocese— Ilia 
lahors  for  the  cause  of  education— Controversies  with  the  Protestants— Very  Eev. 
Felix  Varela— Eev.  Tlionias  C.  Levins— Ditliculties  with  trustees— German  immigra- 
tion— Conversion  of  Eev.  Maximilian  CErtel — Appointment  of  a  Coadjutor— Death 
of  Bishop  Dubois. 

The  Society  of  Jesus,  during  the  period  in  which  the  affairs  of 
New  York  had  been  committed  to  its  care,  had  labored  with  all 
the  zeal  which  is  characteristic  of  its  sous ;  and  nothing  but  the 
prolonged  absence  of  a  bishop  and  their  own  want  of  subjects 
had  prevented  their  establishing  foundations  of  permanent  good. 
A  second  bishop  had  now  been  appointed  to  the  See  of  New 
York,  and  the  Fathers  at  that  city  only  awaited  his  arrival  to 
return  to  Maryland,  where  their  order  greatly  needed  their  co- 
operation. 

The  choice  of  the  Holy  Father  again  fell  on  the  Order  of  St. 
Dominic,  and  he  chose  Father  John  Connolly,  then,  like  his  pred- 
ecessor, Prior  of  St.  Clement's,  to  organize  the  new  diocese  of 
New  York.  The  Right  Rev.  John  Connolly  was  born  on  the 
banks  of  the  Boyne,  near  Navan,  in  1Y50,  and  was  educated  in 
Belgium.  At  an  early  age  he  proceeded  to  Rome,  and  there 
spent  most  of  his  life  in  the  convents  of  his  order.  He  was  for 
many  years  the  agent  of  the  Irish  bishops,  and  filled  a  arious 
chairs  as  professor.     So  great  was  his  knowledge  of  dinnity  and 


376  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

sacred  learning,  that  lie  was  selected  by  the  Cardinal  Bishop  of 
Albano  as  the  examiner  of  candidates  for  the  priesthood.  In  all 
these  varied  duties  he  displayed  the  greatest  ability  and  virtue, 
and  is  still  remembered  by  his  pupils — and  many  of  them  have 
been  eminent  in  the  Church — as  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary 
mildness  and  gentleness  of  character.  His  predecessor,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  made  inquiries  as  to  the  state  of  the  diocese,  and 
its  possibility  of  supporting.  Bishop  Connolly  seems  to  have 
obeyed  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  and  assumed  cheerfully  the  burden 
of  the  episcoj^ate.  Yet,  for  a  man  of  nearly  seventy,  it  was  a 
weight  far  too  heavy.  He  could,  indeed,  still  inspire  respect  by 
his  learning  and  piety,  but  all  the  vigor  of  his  younger  days  was 
needed  for  the  arduous  task  of  bringing  into  system  and  order 
the  unorganized  elements  of  an  American  Church,  where  all, 
clergy  and  laity  alike,  seemed  in  those  days  equally  restive  of 
control.  He  was  appointed  in  the  fall  of  1814,  and  vv^as  conse- 
crated on  the  Cth  of  November  that  year.  Having  made  some 
preparations,  he  left  his  peaceful  abode  in  the  Eternal  City  in  the 
month  of  January,  1815,  and  set  out  to  take  possession  of  his 
diocese.  On  his  way,  he  visited  his  native  island,  and  bid  an 
eternal  farewell  to  all  his  Mndred  ;  for  he  resolved  on  no  consid- 
eration to  have  about  or  near  him  a  single  relative.  To  secui-e 
the  nucleus  of  a  clergy,  he  apparently  applied  to  Kilkenny  Col- 
lege for  some  aspirants  to  holy  orders,  and  obtained  the  Rev. 
Michael  O'Gorman,  whom  he  ordained  and  brought  with  him. 
After  this,  he  set  sail  from  Dublin,  but  his  voyage  v/as  long  and 
daugei'ous,  and  .inly  after  being  tossed  about  for  sixty-seven  days 
did  he  reach  the  city  of  New  York,  where  all  supposed  that 
Providence  had  again  deprived  them  of  a  chief  pastor. 

The  diocese  of  which  Bishop  Connolly  took  possession,  early 
In  1816,  comprised  the  State  of  New  York  and  part  of  that  of 
New  Jersey.  Over  this  space  were  scattered  some  thirteen  thou- 
sand Catholics,  with  three  Jesuit  Fathers  r-,ud  one  secular  priest 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  377 

tlie  Rev.  Mr.  Carbeny,  as  the  sole  representatives  of  the  clergy. 
New  York  had,  indeed,  two  churches,  Albany  another ;  but  these 
were  the  only  shrines  of  religion.  Two  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers 
were  soon  after  recalled,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Carberry  proceeded  to 
Norfolk ;  so  that  most  of  the  missionary  labors  devolved  on  the 
good  bishop,  who  unmurmuringly  assumed  the  duties  of  a  parish 
priest. 

The  Jesuit  who  remained,  and  after  leaving  the  order,  died  at 
last  in  the  city  of  New  York,  was  the  Rev.  Peter  A.  Malou,  whose 
history  is  so  varied,  that  we  cannot  forbear  giving  it  at  some 
length.  Peter  Anthony  Malou,  born  at  Ypres,  in  the  parish  of 
St.  Peter's,  on  the  9th  of  October,  1*753,  was  always  firmly  at- 
tached to  the  faith  ;  but  at  first  experienced  no  vocation  to  the 
ecclesiastical  state,  and  on  the  2d  of  June,  1777,  married,  at  Brus- 
sels, Mademoiselle  Marie  Louise  Riga.  By  this  marriage  he  had 
two  sons,  the  elder  of  whom,  John  Baptist  Malou,  is  now  senator 
of  the  kingdom  of  Belgium.  The  latter  had  six  children,  one  of 
whom  has  been  Minister  of  the  Finances,  and  another  is  Mon- 
seigneur  John  Baptist  Malou,  Bishop  of  Bruges,  universally  known 
by  his  solid  and  learned  works.  It  is  well  known  that  in  1786  the 
Belgians,  driven  to  extremity  by  the  religious  innovations  of  the 
emperor,  Joseph  II.,  rose  against  their  oppressor,  and  after  many 
years  of  parliamentary  struggle  and  bloody  combats,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  expelling  the  Austrian  troops  from  the  country.  On 
the  26th  of  December,  1789,  the  States  of  Brabant  solemnly 
declared  their  independence  ;  and  Catholic  Belgium  would  have 
been  constituted  at  that  period,  forty  years  prior  to  the  revolu 
tion  of  1830,  had  not  France  treacherously  invaded  the  country 
in  1792,  under  the  pretext  of  protecting  it  against  the  attacks  of 
the  emperor.  In  this  heroic  resistance,  inspired  by  the  purest 
nttachment  to  the  faith,  the  pupils  of  the  theological  seminary  at 
Louvain  gave  the  example  to  the  people,  and  rose  on  the  7tli  of 
December,  1786,  because  the  emperor  wislied  to  force  upon  them 


378  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

professors  imlnied  with  Josephine  principles,  and  the  theolo^cal 
works  of  Dr.  Eiybal,  which  had  been  condemned  at  Rome. 
When  Peter  Malou  saw  the  emperor  closing  the  seminaries,  dis- 
persing religious,  seizing  the  property  of  the  Church,  everywhere 
fomenting  a  spirit  of  revolt  against  the  Holy  See,  and  forbidding 
all  communication  between  the  clergy  and  Rome  ;*  when  he  saw 
that  Joseph  11.  aimed  at  nothing  less  than  the  destruction  of 
Catholicity  in  his  States,  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  move- 
ment with  an  ardent  patriotism,  and  played  a  very  important 
part  in  negotiation  and  on  the  field  of  battle.  He  was  repeatedly 
intrusted  with  the  most  delicate  missions  by  the  States  of  Flan- 
ders, which  then  governed  the  country ;  and  maintained  a  very 
active  correspondence  with  the  chiefs  of  the  movement  in  the 
other  provinces.  Having  become  general,  he  traversed  West 
Flanders  to  enrol  volunteers,  and  organized  an  army  :  he  equip- 
ped several  companies  at  his  own  expense,  and  gave  his  estate 
and  his  person  in  defence  of  the  cause  of  his  country  and 
Church. 

When  the  National  Convention  of  France  menaced  Belgium 
with  a  republican  invasion.  General  Peter  Malou  was  sent  to 
Paris  by  the  States  of  Flanders,  and  boldly  appeared  before  that 
terrible  assembly.  He  sohcited  at  least  delay,  for  it  would  have 
been  useless  to  ask  more ;  and  he  besought  the  French  govern- 
ment to  defer  the  violent  measures  which  had  been  decreed. 
This  dangerous  appeal  was  made  on  the  2'7th  of  Januar}^,  1793, 
six  days  after  the  infamous  execution  of  Louis  XVI. ;  and  so 


*  Coxe's  House  of  Austria,  v.  362.  This  author,  a  Protestant  clergyman, 
attests  the  good  government  of  the  Belgian  provinces,  and  blames  Joseph 
n.  for  seeking  to  destroy  their  religious  institutions.  "  In  spite  of  the 
power  and  immunities  of  the  clergy,  no  country  in  Europe  possessed  a 
denser  population,  more  opulent  cities,  or  more  widely  diffused  happiness. 
These  are  incontestable  proofs  that  the  government  was  net,  in  general, 
bailly. administered,  and  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  adapted  to  the  geniy» 
wjd  manners  of  the  people." 


IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.  379 

plainly  did  lie  sliow  the  injustice  of  the  Convention,  that  the 
Moniteur  gave  only  a  mutilated  version  of  his  speech.  It  is  to  be 
found  in  full  in  the  seventh  volume  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Assembly  of  West  Flanders,  as  the  historian  Borgnet  notes.* 
The  correspondence  of  Mr.  Malou  attests  that  the  President  of  the 
Convention,  who  had  treated  the  other  speakers  with  revolution- 
ary coarseness,  showed  him  much  courtesy,  and  even  kindness. 
His  generous  efforts  were,  however,  fruitless.  The  Convention 
had  resolved  to  invade  Belgium,  in  order  to  find  in  its  plun- 
der means  of  continuing  war ;  and  no  arguments  could  prevail 
against  such  a  decision.  In  consequence  of  these  discussions, 
Mr.  Peter  Malou  was  brought  into  contact  with  the  most  cele- 
brated men  in  Europe.  He  was  in  active  correspondence  with 
General  Dumouriez,  with  Merlin  of  Douai,  and  other  renowned 
conventionists.  In  a  letter  of  Merlin's  to  the  deputies  of  West 
Flanders,  we  find  this  familiar  expression — "Your  famous  Malou" — 
which  attests  and  depicts  the  position  which  the  future  Jesuit  had 
assumed  among  his  fellow-citizens. 

Mr.  Malou  had  opposed  with  all  his  energy  the  French  inva- 
sion. On  the  approach  of  the  armies,  he  had  to  become  an  exile, 
and  retired  to  Hamburg,  whence  he  wrote  an  apology  of  his 
conduct,  in  reply  to  the  unjust  accusations  which  always  pursue 
misfortune.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in  the  month  of 
July,  1*795,  intending  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  emigration  of 
his  family.  But  during  this  voyage  he  had  the  affliction  of  losing 
his  wife,  who  died  at  Hamburg  on  the  18th  of  December,  1797, 
and  he  returned  to  Europe  in  1799.     The  destruction  of  his  hap- 


*  Ilistoire  des  Beiges  au  fin  du  XVITI.  Sieclo,  par  Mr.  Borgnet.  Brus- 
sels, 1844-,  ii.  141.  This  author  speaks  in  the  highest  terms  of  the  political 
conduct  of  General  Malou.  Feller,  in  his  "  Journal  Hir^toriquc  et  Littdraire" 
of  August  1,  1790,  published  an  address  of  Mr.  Malou  to  the  patriot  volun- 
teers. The  proceedings  already  cited  contain  several  of  the  ppeec\ies, 
proclamations,  and  a  part  of  the  correspondence  of  this  brave  defendei  oi 
his  country. 


380  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

piness  gave  another  turn  to  liis  thoughts,  and  in  1801  he  re- 
solved to  embrace  the  ecclesiastical  state.  In  October  he  entered 
the  Seminary  of  Wolsaii,  in  Franconia,  where  he  received  minor 
orders.  Then,  in  1805,  he  presented  himself,  under  an  assumed 
name,  at  the  novitiate  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  at  Dunaburg,  in 
White  Russia,  and  humbly  asked  admission  as  a  lay  brother. 
Zealously  employed  in  the  lowly  task  of  gardening,  Brother 
Malou  was  recognized  by  a  visitor,  who  informed  the  Superior  of 
his  real  name  ;  and  the  ex-general  was  obliged  to  take  upon  him 
more  important  functions.  He  was  the  model  of  the  community 
in  fervor,  humility,  and  perfect  obedience.  In  1811,  he  was  sent 
as  a  missionary  to  America,  and  arrived  with  Father  Maximilian 
de  Rantzau.  Attached  at  first  to  the  'New  York  Literary  Insti- 
tution, he  was  afterwards  one  of  the  priests  at  St.  Peter's,  and 
died  in  New  York  on  the  13th  of  October,  1827,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-four.  His  last  days  were  embittered  by  the  ingratitude 
of  the  trustees  :  feeble  in  health,  and  suft'oring  from  lameness,  he 
was  an  object  rather  of  their  reverent  care ;  but  in  order  to  com- 
pel him  to  leave,  they  applied  to  the  Superior  of  his  order  at 
Georgetown,  who,  however,  declined  to  act  on  their  request,  re- 
ferring them  to  the  bishop.  Dr.  Connolly  at  last  yielded  to  their 
importunity,  and  requested  his  recall.  Deeply  grieved  at  this, 
to  him,  apparently  unkind  treatment,  the  aged  priest  asked  to 
withdraw  from  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  remained  in  New  York, 
awaiting  means  from  Europe  for  his  support.*  In  1825,  the  Su- 
periors invited  him  to  return ;  but,  from  motives  which  satisfied 
the  general  of  the  order,  he  preferred  to  remain  a  secular  priest. 
He  was  an  exemplary  missionary,  loving  poverty  and  the  poor, 
and  devoting  himself  to  the  service  of  the  sick,  to  whom  he  gave 


*  For  these  facts  we  are  indebted  to  extracts  of  letters  furnished  by  the 
kindness  of  the  Abbe  J.  B,  Ferland,  of  Quebec,  whose  historical  labors  en- 
able him  to  throw  great  light  on  our  Church  history,  and  whose  courtesy 
and  kindness  to  fellow-laborers  are  beyond  expression. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  381 

aL  that  he  had.  Pohtical  troubles  had  wasted  the  great  fortune 
which  he  had  possessed  in  Belgium.  His  brother-in-law,  Canon 
Riga,  who  had  saved  the  wreck,  sent  him  a  trifling  pension,  in 
which  the  wretched  always  had  a  share.  He  also  took  a  great 
interest  in  the  schools,  which  he  often  visited,  questioning  the 
pupils,  to  observe  their  progress  ;  and  the  pupils  long  preserved 
their  veneration  for  Father  Malou,  and  told  their  children,  in  turn, 
how,  when  they  were  good,  he  w^ould  show  them  his  snuff-box, 
on  which  was  painted  the  miniature  portrait  of  one  of  his  chil- 
dren. The  scholars  were  greatly  astonished  that  the  Jesuit 
Father  had  been  married ;  but  he  offered  God  in  sacrifice  the 
pain  of  being  separated  from  his  children.  He  left  them  as  a 
heritage  a  venerated  name,  and  the  example  of  his  ecclesiastical 
virtues ;  and  Cathohc  Europe  knows  how  well  the  illustrious 
Bishop  of  Bruges  has  followed  in  his  steps.* 

Such  was  almost  the  only  priest  whom  the  bishop  had  to  rep- 
resent the  body  of  his  clergy;  but  he  zealously  assumed  the 
charge  of  his  immense  diocese,  and  endeavored  to  provide  for  its 
wants.  Remaining  himself  at  New  York,  he  dispatched  the 
Rev.  Mr.  O'Gorman  to  Albany  and  the  northern  parts  of  the 
State,  extending  his  visits  to  Carthage,  where  a  church  was  soon 
erected  amid  a  Catholic  population,  and  saying  Mass  in  many 
parts  for  scattered  Catholics  who  had  not  seen  a  priest  for  years, 
and  whose  children  looked  on  the  service  of  the  Church  with 
amazement. 

On  investigating  the  state  of  his  diocese,  the  good  bishop  soon 
saw  a  work  of  difficulty  before  him.  In  the  churches  that  ex^ 
isted,  he  found  every  thing  in  the  hands  of  trustees,  who  seemed 
to  have  very  little  idea  of  the  constitution  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  or  disposition  to  submit  to  it.     That  a  bishop  should  ap- 


*  We  have  been  so  happy  as  to  receive  from  Bishop  Malou  many  detaili 
as  to  the  political  life  of  his  eminent  grandfather. 


382  THE   CATHOLIC  CHUKCH 

point  a  pastor  to  a  church,  seemed  to  them  ridiculous ;  on  th( 
Protestant  principle,  they  themselves  looked  out  for  a  good 
preacher,  or  Avhat  they  considered  such,  and  invited  him.  Bishop 
Connolly  was  immediately  called  upon  by  the  trustees  to  be  the 
channel  of  these  invitations.  Those  of  Albany  wished  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Corr,  of  Mary's  Lane  Chapel,  and  offered  eight  hundred  dol- 
lars a  year ;  two  trustees  of  St.  Peter's,  in  New  York,  desired  to 
have  as  their  pastor  Father  William  V.  Harold,  then  at  St. 
Thomas's  College,  near  Dublin,  offering  to  pay  his  passage  and 
settle  his  salary  when  he  came.  Other  trustees  wished  him 
to  write  to  Ireland  for  Rev.  Messrs.  England  and  Taylor,  of 
Cloyne. 

We  find  these  scanty  notes  in  his  diary,*  but  we  do  not  know 
to  what  extent  he  acceded  to  their  wishes.  The  last  named  of 
these  clergymen  we  shall  soon  find  at  New  York,  and  giving  to 
the  encroachments  of  the  trustees  all  the  influence  he  possessed. 

The  good  bishop  sought  and  obtained  clergymen  with  whose 
abilities  and  principles  he  was  acquainted,  and  gathered  several 
young  aspirants  to  holy  orders,  who,  under  his  training,  became 
zealous  and  devoted  priests.  In  18 1*7  and  1818  we  find  the  Rev. 
Arthur  Langdill  and  the  celebrated  Father  Charles  D.  Ffrench 
in  the  active  discharge  of  the  ministry  in  his  diocese,  the  former 
at  Newburg,  and  generally  on  the  North  River,  except  at  New 
York  and  Albany ;  the  latter  at  New  York.  Father  Ffrench  was 
a  convert,  and  the  grandson  of  one  who  obtained  titles  and 
honors  from  the  English  government  in  1*798.  But  while  the 
head  of  the  family  thus  assumed  the  badge  of  servitude  and 
treachery,  several  members  of  it  embraced  the  Catholic  faith, 
and  devoted  themselves  to  the  service  of  their  Catholic  coun- 
trymen at  home  and  abroad.  Among  these  was  Father  Charles 
D.  Ffrench,  who,  after  entering  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic  in 


*  See  Bishop  Bayley's  Sketch  of  the  Catholic  Church. 


IN"   THE   UNITED   STATES.  383 

Ireland,  came  to  America,  and  attempted  to  establish  a  house 
of  his  order  at  St.  Johns,  New  Brunswick,  then  subject  to  the 
Bishop  of  Quebec.  He  came  in  the  winter  of  1817  to  New 
York,  where  he  had  relatives  among*  the  most  influential  Catho- 
lics, and  was  soon  made  one  of  the  pastors  of  St.  Peter's ;  but 
the  trustee  troubles  Avhich  ensued  induced  him  to  leave,  and  he 
then  for  many  years  labored  in  the  missions  of  Maine  and  other 
parts  of  New  England,  and  at  last  died  at  Lawrence,  in  Massa- 
chusetts, in  January,  1851,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-five 
years,  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  priesthood.* 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor,  invited  by  the  trustees,  came  apparently 
in  1818,  and  soon  gave  the  trustee  encroachments  in  a  new  form. 
He  was  a  popular  preacher,  and  deeming  the  bishop  a  good  but 
incapable  man,  aspired  to  the  See  himself,  and  actually  formed  a 
party,  into  which  he  even  drew  some  of  the  clergy,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  have  Bishop  Connolly  recalled  and  himself  chosen. 
He  actually  went  to  Rome  to  eff'ect  this,  but  failed ;  and  as  the 
bishop  refused  to  receive  him,  he  proceeded  to  Boston,  where  he 
gained  the  esteem  of  Bishop  Cheverus,  and  following  him  to 
France,  died  while  preaching  at  the  Irish  College  in  Paris,  in 
1828.t 

During  his  short  stay  in  New  York  he  mingled  much  in  Pro- 
testant society,  and  sought  to  remove  all  prejudice  from  their 
minds.  To  what  extent  he  carried  his  concession  may  be  seen 
by  a  prayer-book — "The  Christian's  Monitor  ;  oi-.  Practical 
Guide  to  Future  Happiness" — which  he  compiled  and  published. 
This  book  is  remarkable  for  its  apologetic  notes,  and  still  more 
so  for  some  of  the  headings,  the  strangest  being  that  which 
reads,  "  The  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  together  with  the 
Holy  Communion,  commonly  called  the  Mass !" 

*  Catholio  Almanac,  1852,  p.  243. 

t  See  his  observations  on  Bishop  Hobart's  charge,  entitled  "  Corruptioni 
of  the  Churih  of  Eome,"  cited  by  Dr.  White  in  his  Life  of  Mrs.  Seton. 


384  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

Ho}>es  of  extensive  conversions  were  probably  entertained,  and 
were  not  unreasonable,  as  the  conversions  of  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Thayer,  Holmes,  and  Barber,  in  New  England,  bad  been  followed 
in  New  York  by  that  of  the  younger  Barber,  Rev.  Mr.  Richards, 
of  the  Methodist  Church,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kewley,  rector  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  St.  George,  and  subsequently  of  the  Rev. 
George  Edmund  Ironside,  the  last  named  of  whom,  in  reply  to 
the  assaults  made  upon  him,  openly  defended  the  step  he  had 
taken.  Bishop  Hobart  himself,  the  Episcopalian  Bishop  of 
New  York,  repeatedly  expressed  a  wish  to  end  his  days  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  from  the  friendship 
which  subsisted  between  him  and  Bishop  Connolly,  hopes  were 
entertained  that  his  visit  to  Rome,  with  letters  of  introduction 
from  Dr.  Connolly,  would  lead  to  his  conversion.  This  grace, 
however,  in  the  designs  of  Providence,  was  reserved  for  his 
daughter,  the  god-child  of  Mother  Seton,  and  wife  of  the  Rt. 
Rev.  Levi  S.  Ives,  Bishop  of  North  Carolina,  who  has  so  lately 
sacrificed  all  to  become  an  humble  member  of  the  flock  of  Peter. 

Of  the  earlier  converts,  Mr.  Kewley  returned  to  his  native 
country,*  and  is  said  to  have  become  a  religious  in  Belgium. 
Mr.  John  Richards  was  in  1807  a  Methodist  clergyman,  zealously 
preaching  in  various  parts  of  Western  New  York.  In  order  to 
extend  his  sect  he  crossed  to  Upper  Canada,  and  finally,  in  Au- 
gust, 1807,  reached  Montreal.  Here,  in  his  zeal,  he  wished  to 
convert  the  Sulpitians  of  that  city,  and  waited  upon  them  for 
that  purpose.  They  received  him  with  the  utmost  com'tesy,  and 
gave  hira  books  explaining  the  Catholic  doctrines.  He  read 
them  attentively,  and  returned,  not  to  convert,  but  to  be  in- 
structed. For  several  months  he  was  closely  engaged  in  examin- 
ing the  grounds  of  the  Catholic  faith.  "As  I  progress,"  he 
writes  in  his  diary,  "  the  truth  seems  to  me  more  clear,  so  that  I 

'         *  Stone,  Life  of  Eev.  Dr.  Milnor,  p.  212. 


IN   THE   UJSITED   STATES.  885 

am  fully  convinced  no  doctrine  has  been  more  misrepresented,  as 
for  as  I  can  understand  it.  I  see  nothing  but  what  has  the  sanc- 
tion of  God's  word."  Called  upon  by  the  Methodist  Society  to 
explain  his  visits  to  the  Catholic  clergy,  he  declined  till  he  had 
finally  made  up  his  mind.  He  then  announced  his  determina- 
tion in  a  letter  of  remarkable  candor  and  earnestness. 

This  step  excited  the  greatest  consternation  among  the  Meth- 
odists, and  as  Mr.  Richards  had  abstained  from  any  public  expo- 
sition of  the  causes  of  his  conversion,  it  was  not  easy  to  refute 
the  arguments  which  had  influenced  him.  One  Methodist  cler- 
gyman, however,  undertook  to  counteract  the  evil  done,  and  in  a 
curious  little  book,  begins  by  supposing  the  grounds  on  which 
Mr.  Richards  acted,  and  then,  quite  to  his  own  satisfaction,  shows 
them  to  be  follacious.*''^' 

Of  all  this  Mr.  Richards  took  no  notice.  He  entered  the  sem- 
inary, and  after  a  thorough  course  of  study,  was  ordained,  and 
for  many  years  edified  Canada  by  his  zeal  and- devotedness. 
Candid  and  upright  in  life,  in  death  he  was  a  martyr  of  charity. 
The  number  of  Catholics  who  were  thus  gained  by  conversion 
was,  how^ever,  small ;  but  the  Catholic  population  was  now  rap- 
idly increasing;  emigration  had  become  a  tide,  and  in  three 
years  ten  thousand  Irish  Catholics  landed  at  New  York,  actually 
doubling  the  number  of  the  faithful.  For  these,  churches, 
schools,  every  thing  were  to  be  provided. 

We  have  seen  how  hopefully  Catholicity  had  begun  in  New 
York,  with  its  Ursuline  convent,  its  Jesuit  college,  its  Trappist 


*  An  inquiry  into  the  fundamental  principles  of  Roman  Catholics,  in  a 
etter  to  Mr.  John  Eicliards  ;  by  Samuel  Coate.  Brooklyn,  1809.  Mr.  Rich- 
ards' journal  at  the  time  of  his  conversion  is  still  extant,  and  we  are  indebted 
for  a  copy  of  it  to  the  Sulpitians  of  Montreal.  Mr.  Richards  was  ordained  on 
the  25th  of  July,  1813,  and  died  at  Montreal  on  the  23d  of  July,  1847,  of  the 
typh'js,  caught  while  attending  the  emigrants.  Martin  ;  Manuel  du  Pelerin 
de  N.  D.  de  Bon  Secours.  He  is  mentioned  with  singular  praise  and  mod 
eration  iu  Bangs'  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  i. 

IT 


886  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

monastery.  x\ll  tliese,  however,  had  disappeared,  and  Bishop 
Connolly  was  unable  to  supply  the  deficiency.  Without  reve- 
nues, relying  entirely  on  the  bodies  of  trustees  and  their  caprice, 
with  a  cathedral  loaded  with  debt,  he  did  not  even  venture  to 
think  of  erecting  a  seminary,  and  had  no  schools  in  which  to 
imbue  Catholic  youth  with  CathoHc  sentiments,  or  counteract 
the  "  almost  invincible  repugnance  of  the  American  youth  to  the 
ecclesiastical  state." 

In  1817  he  applied,  however,  to  his  future  successor,  the  Rev. 
John  Dubois,  then  director  of  the  Sisters  of  Chanty,  for  Sisters 
to  direct  the  orphan  asyhnn  at  the  cathedral.  Mrs.  Seton  could 
not  resist  the  appeal  from  her  native  city,  and  chose  Sister  Rose 
White,  Cecilia  O'Conway,  and  Felicitas  Brady,  who  arrived  in 
New  York  on  the  20th  of  June,  1817,  and  "commenced  in  an 
humble  way  an  institution  destined  to  become  a  most  flourishing 
asylum,  and  what  is  more,  founded,  by  the  introduction  of  their 
order,  those  many  establishments  of  charity,  mercy,  and  educa- 
tion which  cover  the  State  of  New  York,  and  in  which  alone 
the  rule  and  dress  of  Mother  Seton  are  preserved  unaltered. 

"  A  small  wooden  building  on  Prince-street  sufficed  then  to 
hold  the  Sisters  and  the  five  orphans  first  committed  to  their 
care ;  but  the  number  rapidly  increased,  and  schools  under  their 
direction  multiplied  in  various  parts."* 

The  Erie  Canal,  which  was  begun  in  1819,  drew  the  Irish 
emigrants  to  that  part  of  the  State,  and  first  gave  the  Catholics 
numerical  importance  in  Central  New  York.  Three  years  later, 
Bishop  Connolly  made  a  visitation  of  his  diocese,  which  was  pro- 
ductive of  great  consolation  to  himself  and  good  to  his  widel} 
scattered  flock.  At  Albany  he  received  into  the  Church  Mr. 
Keating  Lawson  and  Miss  Eldredge,  both  of  Lansingburg ;  and 
proceeding  westward,  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  Dominic  Lynch, 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  387 

Esq.,  at  Rome,  and  John  C.  Devereux,  Esq.,  of  Utica,  in  both  of 
whom  the  Chnrch  fonnd  zealous  and  able  supporters.* 

Bishop  Connolly  was  not  insensible  to  the  progress  of  Catho- 
licity in  other  parts  of  the  Union,  but  actively  co-operated  with 
his  brother  prelates,  and  essentially  contributed  to  the  erection 
of  new  Sees.  Under  his  administration  the  good  bishop  had 
seen  several  churches  arise — St.  John's  at  Utica,  St.  Patrick's  in 
Rochester.  In  1822  he  could  number  eight  priests  on  the  mis- 
sion, three  of  them  ordained  by  himself.  One  of  these,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Bulger,  an  unwearied  missionary,  then  served,  as  his  parish, 
the  present  diocese  of  Newark ;  the  parishes  of  the  Rev.  Michael 
Carroll  and  the  Rev.  John  Farnan  comprised  the  diocese  of  Al- 
bany, and  that  of  the  Rev.  Patrick  Kelly  that  of  Buffalo  ;  while 
not  a  single  clergyman  was  stationed  in  what  is  now  the  diocese 
of  Brooklyn,  w^here  in  1823  the  Rev.  Mr.  Shanahan  said  his  first 
Mass  and  began  to  gather  a  congregation. 

Every  priest  at  this  time  had  his  appointed  catechism  classes 
before  divine  service  on  Sundays,  and  had  rosary  societies,  not 
only  in  each  church,  but  in  most  of  the  stations  attached  to  them. 
Their  duties,  especially  out  of  the  city,  were  very  laborious,  and 
subjected  them  to  many  hardships,  of  which  they  have  left  us  no 
record. 

The  bishop  subsequently  ordained  three  other  clergymen,  two 
of  whom  still  survive  in  the  active  discharge  of  their  duties.f 
The  Rev.  Mr.  O'Gorman  was  for  some  years  with  the  bishop  at 
the  cathedral,  but  in  the  month  of  November,  1824,  he  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Bulger,  like  himself  a  native  of  Kilkenny,  and  ordained 
by  Bishop  Connolly,  expired  within  a  week  of  each  other,  and 
the  good  bishop,  worn  out  with  t.oil  and  trouble,  soon  followed 
them  to  the  tomb.     He  was  taken  sick  on  his  return  from  Mr. 

*  For  many  of  these  details,  and  much  vahiable  information  as  to  this  pe* 
riod,  we  are  indebted  to  the  venerable  Rev.  John  Shanahan. 
+  Rev.  John  Shanahan  and  Rev.  Mr.  Conroy. 


388  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

O'Gorman's  funeral,  but  struggled  through  the  winter,  dischaig- 
ing  without  complaint  the  additional  duty  devolved  upon  him. 
and  actually  officiating  within  a  week  of  his  death.  Attended 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Shanahan,  he  expired  at  his  residence  on  Sexa- 
gesima  Sunday  evening,  February  6th,  1825. 

His  funeral  was  attended  T)y  thousands,  and  all  sympathized 
with  the  devoted  Catholics,  who  regretted  the  loss  of  "the  pious, 
worthy,  and  venerable  Bishop  Connolly." 

The  Rev.  John  Power,  who  now  became  administrator  of  the 
diocese,  was  born  near  Roscarberry,  in  Ireland,  of  a  very  respect- 
able f^imily,  on  the  19th  of  June,  1792.  After  a  distinguished 
course  of  study  at  Maynooth,  he  w^as  ordained,  and  for  a  time 
taught  divinity  in  the  Diocesan  Seminary  at  Cork.  Invited  by 
the  trustees  of  St.  Peter's,  he  came  to  New  York  in  1819.  He 
was  an  able  theologian,  a  most  eloquent  preacher,  and  a  faithful 
priest.  His  zeal  and  charity  are  still  proverbial,  and  the  yellow 
fever,  which  ravaged  New  York  at  the  time  of  his  arrival,  afford- 
ed him  ample  exercise  for  his  devotedness.  He  administered  the 
diocese  for  two  years  with  great  ability,  the  death  of  two  priests 
and  the  suspension  of  two  others  greatly  increasing  the  difficulty 
of  his  position.* 

Under  the  next  Bishop  of  New  York  he  became  vicar-general, 
and  continued  in  that  important  post  till  his  death.  Possessing 
great  eloquence,  his  appeals,  especially  those  on  behalf  of  the 
orphans,  always  obtained  a  most  plentiful  collection  fi'om  the 
charity  of  the  faithful.  As  a  controversialist  he  possessed  great 
skill  and  power,  free  from  all  acrimony  and  bitterness,  and  his 
writings,  doctrinal  and  controversial,  effected  at  the  time  no  un- 
important good.  St.  Peter's  Church  was  the  only  field  of  his 
ministry  from  his  arrival  in  New  York  to  his  death,  and  undel 
his  care  the  present  noble  pile  was  reared. 

*  Bishop  Bayley'a  Sketch  of  the  Catholic  Church. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  389 

Wliile  the  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Power  administered  the  diocese  of 
New  York,  the  Church  gradually  extended.  The  Catholics  in 
tne  city  had  become  too  numerous,  and  many  too  far  removed 
from  the  cathedral  and  St.  Peter's,  to  be  able  to  attend  them  or 
find  accommodations  there.  A  church  in  Sheriff-street,  belong- 
ing to  the  Presbyterians,  was  accordingly  purchased  in  183G, 
and  opened  for  divine  worship  on  the  14th  of  May  in  that  year. 
In  the  opening  discourse  pronounced  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Hatton  Walsh,  he  says  :  "  At  no  distant  period  a  single  church 
had  been  amply  sufficient  to  contain  the  Catholics  of  that  vast 
commercial  city ;  and  when  it  had  been  deemed  expedient  to 
erect  a  sumptuous  cathedral  in  honor  of  the  Most  High,  it  was 
more  than  the  warmest  friends  of  Catholicity  could  then  expect 
that  its  spacious  aisles  should  be  filled  with  the  followers  of  the 
ancient  faith ;  but  so  diligently  had  the  vineyai'd  of  the  Lord 
been  cultivated,  and  so  fruitfully  had  it  flourished,  that  in  order 
to  afford  an  opportunity  to  every  one  of  assisting  at  the  sacred 
mysteries  of  our  religion,  it  had  been  considered  necessary  to 
procure  for  their  accommodation  this  additional  temple."* 

Meanwhile  the  Holy  See  had,  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
American  prelates,  raised  to  the  vacant  See  the  Rev.  John  Du- 
bois, founder  of  Mount  St.  Mary's  College,  at  Emmetsburg,  whose 
labors  in  Virginia  and  Maryland  have  been  mentioned  elsewhere. 
Born  at  Paris  on  the  20th  of  August,  1*764,  he  had  received  a 
careful  education  at  the  college  of  Louis  le  Grand,  at  the  time 
that  the  Abbe  Proyart  was  the  director,  and  when  it  numbered 
among  its  pupils  M'Carthy,  afterwards  a  celebrated  preacher  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus ;  Legiis  Duval  and  Leonard,  both  eminent 
clergymen,  and  also  (men  whom  France  will  ever  remember  with 
horror)  Robespierre  and  Camille  Desmoulins.     After  reading  di- 


*  A  discourse  delivered  at  the  opening  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  by  the  Rev, 
Hdtton  Walsh.     New  York,  1826 ;  p.  7. 


390  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

vinitj  witli  the  Oratorians,  he  was  ordained  about  1789,  and  sta 
tioned  at  St.  Sulpice.  Having  in  a  moment  of  weakness  takec 
the  constitutional  oath,  he  soon  saw  the  danger,  and  resolving  to 
leave  France,  sailed  for  America  with  letters  of  introduction  from 
Lafayette,  and  after  arriving  safely  at  Norfolk  in  1791,  became 
an  inmate  of  the  family  of  the  Hon.  James  Monroe,  afterwards 
President  of  the  United  States,  whose  relative  and  namesake  is 
now  a  member  of  the  true  fold. 

On  his  appointment  to  the  See  of  New  York,  Dr.  Dubois  pre- 
pared, notwithstanding  his  advanced  age,  to  assume  the  duties 
which  devolved  upon  him,  and  having  received  his  cross  and 
ring  from  the  kindness  of  the  venerable  Charles  Carroll  of  Car- 
rollton,  was  consecrated  at  Baltimore  on  Sunday,  the  29th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1826,  by  Archbishop  Marechal,  amid  a  crowd  of  his  old 
pupils,  who  wished  to  give  this  last  mark  of  attachment  to  their 
old  director,  and  three  days  later  took  possession  of  his  See.* 
On  his  aiTival  at  New  York  his  cathedral  was  crowded,  no  less 
than  four  thousand  of  the  faithful  pressing  around  its  altar 
to  receive  the  blessing  of  the  new  pastor.f  Murmurs  however, 
were  heard ;  the  Catholics  of  New  York  were  chiefly  of  Irish 
origin,  and  in  their  eyes  the  new  bishop  was  a  foreigner ;  nor 
did  they  conceal  their  dissatisfaction.  Firm  and  decided  in  his 
opinions  and  conduct.  Bishop  Dubois  was  not  disposed  to  flatter 
or  soothe.  "  He  is  going  to  govern  strongly  in  his  strong  way," 
wrote  his  holy  friend,  Dr.  Brute,  the  future  Bishop  of  Yin- 
cennes ;  and  the  bishop  soon  issued  a  pastoral,  in  which,  claiming 
the  rights  of  an  American  citizen,  both  by  his  naturalization 
and  services,  he  denied  any  ground  to  object  to  his  nationahty, 
and  commenting  severely  on  abuses  which  prevailed,  he  avowed 


*  Bisliop  Bayley's  Brief  Sketch  of  the  Catholic  Church,  pp.  8a-86.  Aa^ 
nales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  iv.  251. 

t  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  iv.  447.  Bishop  Bayley's  Brie4 
Skei«)iv,  p.  92. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  391 

his  determination  to  bring  tlie  discipline  of  the  diocese  to  the 
standard  of  the  sacred  canons. 

New  York  city  then  contained,  according  to  his  calculation, 
thirty-five  thousand  Catholics,  and  the  diocese  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand,  with  eight  churches  and  eighteen  priests.  To 
realize  the  actual  position  of  aftairs  the  aged  prelate  began  a 
visitation  of  his  vast  diocese,  encouraging  the  Cathohcs,  hearing 
confessions,  and  administering  the  sacraments.  Albany  needed 
encouragement  in  building  a  new  church,  and  the  presence  of  the 
bishop  gave  it.  At  Bufialo  he  said  Mass  in  the  Courthouse,  re- 
ceived a  grant  of  laud  for  the  erection  of  the  since  famous  church 
of  St  Louis,  and  blessed  it  amid  the  general  admiration — Catho- 
lics of  Ireland,  France,  Germany,  and  Switzerland  harmoniously 
ioining  in  the  ceremony.  Before  returning  to  his  episcopal  city, 
Bishop  Dubois  also  visited  the  Indian  village  of  St.  Regis,  which 
lay  partly  in  his  diocese,  and  where  the  American  part  was  in 
open  opposition  to  its  pastor,  who  dwelt  on  the  Canadian  side. 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  he  administered  the  sacrament  of  confirma 
tion,  but  was  not  called  upon  to  baptize  or  confess,  the  Indian* 
being,  for  all  their  foolish  obstinacy,  more  blessed  than  their 
white  brethren  in  the  possession  of  a  church  and  regular  pastor. 

The  wants  of  his  diocese  were  now  before  the  bishop,  and  he 
saw  the  pressing  necessity  of  a  seminary  and  college,  of  schools 
for  boys,  of  a  hospital,  especially  for  emigrants,  and  of  asylums  to 
save  the  orphans,  as  well  as  of  churches  at  almost  every  point  to 
enable  the  scattered  Catholics  to  worship  God.  How  much  would 
he  have  realized,  had  he  been  seconded  by  the  flock  committed  to 
his  care  !  But  unfortunately  the  die  had  been  cast ;  the  trustee 
interest  was  arrayed  against  him,  and  his  projects  were  either 
traversed  or  disregarded.  Still,  he  never  forsook  them,  and  to  the 
last  labored  to  supply  the  deficiencies  under  which  the  diocese 
labored. 

With(mt  awaiting  the  projected  Council  at  Baltimore,  he  re 


892  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

solved  to  proceed  to  Europe  in  search  of  aid,  and  before  departing^ 
received  from  the  Association  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith 
a  considerable  allowance — a  favor  which  his  friend  Dr.  Brute 
had  obtained  him.  With  this  he  aided  the  Catholics  of  Albany 
in  erecting  their  church,  and  redeemed  that  of  Newark,  just 
about  to  be  sacrificed.  Thus  relieved  on  two  points,  he  next,  in 
1837,  purchased  Christ  Church,  in  Ann-street,  from  the  Episco- 
pahans,  and  stationed  in  Brooklyn  the  Rev.  John  Walsh,  who 
thus  became  the  first  resident  pastor  in  that  city,  now  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  Union,  and  itself  an  episcopal  See. 

Bishop  Dubois  reached  France  in  October,  1829,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Rome  to  confide  his  pains,  his  trials,  and  the  number- 
less obstacles  which  he  met,  to  the  father  of  the  faithful  and  the 
venerable  Cardinal  Prefect  of  the  Propaganda.  On  terminating 
the  affairs  which  had  called  him  to  the  Holy  City,  and  having 
procured  such  aid  as  he  was  able,  he  returned  to  New  York,  and 
began  his  endeavors  to  rear  the  establishments  of  which  he  saw 
the  greatest  need. 

A.  house  of  education  for  youth  and  seminary  combined  was 
his  project.  An  Irish  Brotherhood,  under  Brother  Boylen,  had 
proposed  schools  in  the  city,  but  the  trustees  would  not  consent 
to  the  deed  being  made  to  the  brothers  direct,  and  Brother  Boy- 
len himself  proving  very  unfit,  the  plan  failed.  The  bishop,  con- 
ceiving that  a  spot  at  some  distance  from  the  city  would  be 
most  advantageous  for  the  purpose,  purchased  some  property  at 
Nyack,  on  the  North  River,  and  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  col- 
lege on  the  29th  of  May,  1833.  This  step  aroused  all  the  big- 
otry of  the  enemies  of  Catholicity ;  the  pulpits  echoed  with  loud 
declaimers  against  the  Church ;  the  application  for  an  incorpora- 
tion was  opposed  by  an  eager  body  of  remonstrants,  and  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Brownlee  preached  so  zealously  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Nyack,  and  so  deeply  impressed  on  the  inhabitants  of  that  part 
the  danger  of  having  a  Cathohc  college  there,  that  the  college 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  393 

itself  was  accklentalhj  destroyed  by  fire  !  No  doubt  can  exist  in 
the  mind  of  any  reasonable  man  that  tlie  torch  of  an  incendiary 
was  applied  to  this  Catholic  institution,  as  it  had  already  been  to 
St.  Mary's  Church  in  1831 ;  for  threats  had  not  been  withheld, 
and  the  bishop  had  even  sought  the  protection  of  the  authorities 
for  his  rising  seat  of  learning.*  Yet  so  it  was  :  the  men  whose 
chief  capital  was  to  accuse  Catholics  of  ignorance,  moved  heaven 
and  earth,  and  branded  their  own  souls  with  guilt,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent Catholics  from  atibrding  a  suitable  education  to  their  children. 

Bishop  Dubois  next  endeavored  to  establish  a  college  at  Brook- 
lyn, where  Cornelius  Heeny,  Esq.,  offered  ground  for  the  purpose ; 
but  his  conditions  proved  onerous,  and  the  plan  was  abandoned. 
A  subsequent  attempt  at  Lafargeville,  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
State,  was  more  successful,  but  it  was  too  remote  from  the  great 
body  of  the  Catholics,  and  the  college  was  finally  closed. 

The  excitement  against  the  Catholics,  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  was  entirely  the  work  of  clergymen  who  lost  no  occasion 
of  attacking  the  Cathplic  doctrines  and  the  character  of  Catho- 
lics as  individuals  and  as  citizens.  They  were  not,  however,  un- 
answered. The  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Power,  the  Very  Rev.  Felix 
Varela,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Schneller,  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Levins, 
met  their  antagonists  with  zeal  and  ability.  Of  the  first  of 
these  clergymen  we  have  already  spoken.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Varela 
was  no  less  eminent  a  man.  Born  at  Havana,  in  the  island  of 
Cuba,  in  1787,  he  early  devoted  himself  to  the  ecclesiastical 
state,  and  became  a  distinguished  professor  in  the  University  of 
San  Carlos,  in  his  native  city.  A  man  of  great  charity,  he  was 
known  and  esteemed  by  all,  and  was  unanimously  chosen  a 
deputy  to  the  Spanish  Cortes  under  the  Constitution  in  1822. 
Protesting  against  the  overthrow  of  the  new  government,  ho 
became  an  exile,  and  in  1823  chose  for  his  new  home  the  soil 


394:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

of  the  United  States.  He  was  totally  unacquainted  with  tkt 
language,  and  the  climate  during  the  first  years  of  his  residence 
nearly  proved  fatal  to  him.  In  spite  of  honorable  invitations  to 
proceed  to  other  countries,  he  preferred  to  remain  and  labor  for 
the  Catholics  of  the  United  States.  "I  am  in  affection,"  he 
says,  "  a  native  of  this  country,  although  I  am  not  nor  ever  will 
be  a  citizen,  having  made  a  firm  resolution  to  become  a  citizen  oi 
no  other  country  after  the  occurrences  which  have  torn  me  from 
my  own.  I  never  expect  to  see  it  again,  but  I  think  that  I  owe  it 
a  tribute  of  my  love  and  respect  by  uniting  myself  to  no  other." 
He  landed  in  Philadelphia  in  1823,  but  soon  proceeded  to 
New  York,  and  was  successively  assistant  at  St.  Peter's,  pastor 
of  Christ  Church,  and  of  the  Church  of  the  Transfiguration,  which 
he  erected.  He  was  a  solid  theologian,  and  wrote  several  works 
in  his  native  language,  which  circulated  extensively  through  Cuba 
and  Spanish  America,  and  in  English  contributed  extensively  to 
the  Catholic  papers  and  periodicals.  Of  these  fugitive  pieces  of 
his,  that  entitled  "  The  Five  Different  Bibles  distributed  and  sold 
by  the  American  Bible  Society"  was  probably  the  happiest,  and 
attracted  most  notice.  It  compelled  that  Society  to  throw  off 
the  mask,  and  not  condemn  a  Catholic  translation  in  one  lan- 
guage while  they  circulated  it  in  another,  or  to  omit  in  one 
edition  certain  books  as  uninspired,  and  put  them  in  another  as 
inspired.  Dr.  Varela  did  not  slirink  from  oral  discussion,  and 
as  early  as  1831  accepted  an  invitation  to  defend  the  Catholic 
doctrine  in  an  assembly  of  ministers  presided  over  by  the  noto- 
rious Dr.  Brownlee,  who,  finding  the  audience  completely  aston- 
ished and  convinced  by  the  reasoning  of  the  talented  Cuban 
ecclesiastic,  endeavored  to  persuade  the  meeting  that  Dr.  Varela 
had  stated  what  was  not  Catholic  doctrine,  and  that  he  would 
be  surely  suspended  by  his  bishop.* 

*  Cartas  a  Elpidio,  ii. 


m  THE    UNITED   STATES.  395 

It  is,  however,  chiefly  for  his  zeal  as  a  pastor,  and  for  hia 
boundless  chiirity,  that  he  will  be  remembered  by  the  faithful  of 
New  York.  How  he  lived  was  a  wonder  to  his  friends,  for  he 
gave  away  every  thing  to  the  poor — the  clothing  off  his  back, 
the  spoons  from  his  table,  when  he  had  not  the  money  to  be- 
stow ;  and  these  acts  would  not  have  been  known,  had  not  the 
objects  of  his  charity  been  on  two  occasions,  to  his  great  distress, 
arrested  as  thieves.  He  inspired  his  congregation  with  a  spirit 
of  piety,  and  will  long  be  remembered  by  the  faithful  whom  he 
guided  in  the  way,  together  with  the  holy  Carthusian  Father, 
Alexander  Mopiatti,  who  was  for  a  time  the  partner  of  his  labors. 
After  nearly  thirty  years'  labor  in  the  ministry,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Varela  died,  on  the  18th  of  February,  1853,  at  St.  Augustine, 
whither  he  had  retired  for  his  health. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Schneller  is  still  in  the  ministry,  in  the  diocese 
of  Brooklyn,  and  was  long  pastor  at  Albany,  as  we  shall  see 
elsewhere.  The  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Levins  was  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  Possessing  great  mathematical  talents,  skilful 
as  a  lapidary,  a  thorough  theologian  and  dialectician,  he  was  toe 
versatile  to  endure  the  confinement  of  a  college,  and,  contrary  to 
the  rules  of  his  order,  contributed  to  the  Washington  press  arti- 
cles which  attracted  universal  attention.  When  the  authorship 
became  known,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
and  came  to  the  diocese  of  New  York.  As  pastor  of  St.  Pat- 
rick's, he  was  the  favorite  of  the  people,  especially  from  his  con- 
troversial talents,  and  the  opponents  of  Catholicity  justly  dreaded 
his  arguments.  Unfortunately,  he  was  deficient  in  amiability  of 
character,  and  his  asperity  lei  him  to  treat  the  bishop  with  dis- 
respect and  disobedience.  At  last.  Bishop  Dubois  silenced  him, 
and  a  struggle  at  once  arose  :  the  trustees  of  St.  Patrick's  ad- 
hered to  Mr.  Levins,  and  refused  to  pav  the  salary  of  the  new 
pastor  appointed  by  the  bishop.  To  widen  the  breach,  tbey  also 
"ftamed  the  Rev.  Mr.  Levins  rector  of  the  Free  School,  with  a 


396  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

salary  sufficient  for  his  support.  A  new  conflict  resulted :  a 
Sunday-school  teacher  appointed  by  the  bishop  was  ordered  oul 
of  the  house  by  the  rector,  and  on  his  return  the  next  Sunday,  he 
was  stopped  by  a  constable  ready  to  arrest  him  on  the  written  or- 
der of  the  trustees.  The  bishop,  grieved  to  the  heart  at  an  insult 
to  his  authority  thus  openly  given,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  con- 
gregation of  his  cathedral.  "  The  trustees  seem  to  think,"  he 
says,  "  that  they  are  at  liberty  to  employ  whatever  power  they 
can  extract  from  the  charter,  or  obtain  from  the  civil  laws  as  a 
corporation,  ia  a  kind  of  perennial  conflict  with  and  against  the 
ecclesiastical  authority  and  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  which 
they  should  be  the  firmest  and  foremost  to  uphold,  as  Catholics 
first,  and  as  trustees  afterwards.  It  is  possible  that  the  civil  law 
gives  them  power  to  send  a  constable  to  the  Sunday-school,  and 
eject  even  the  bishop  himself.  But,  if  it  does,  it  gives  them,  we  have 
no  doubt,  the  same  right  to  send  him  into  the  sanctuary,  and  remove 
any  of  these  gentlemen  from  before  the  altar.  And  is  it  your  inten 
tion  that  such  power  be  exercised  by  your  trustees  ?  If  so,  then 
it  is  almost  time  for  the  ministers  of  the  Lord  to  forsake  youi 
temple,  and  erect  an  altar  to  their  God,  around  which  religion 
shall  be  free,  the  Council  of  Trent  fully  recognized,  and  the  laws 
of  the  Church  applied  to  the  government  and  regulation  of  the 
Church." 

Proceeding  to  the  root  of  the  evil,  the  usurpation  by  the 
trustees  of  authority  which  the  Church  never  gave — that  of  ap 
pointing  the  pastor  to  administer  the  sacraments,  the  choir  to 
take  part  in  the  performance  of  divine  worship,  the  sexton  to 
take  care  of  the  altar,  the  teacher  to  guide  the  young — he 
showed  how  utterly  inconsistent  it  was  with  the  very  first  ideas 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  announces  his  resolution  to  extirpate 
it.  "  Do  not  suppose  that  the  Church  of  God,  because  she  has 
no  civil  support  for  her  laws  and  discipline,  is  therefore  obliged 
to  see  them  trampled  on  by  her  own  children,  without  any  means 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  397 

for  their  preservation.  She  has  means ;  and  it  is  necessary  tliat 
her  discipline  be  restored,  and  the  abuses  on  the  part  of  youi 
trustees,  to  which  we  have  alluded,  be  disavowed  and  re- 
moved." 

The  trustees,  however,  did  not  yield  ;  they  threatened  to  cut  off 
the  bishop's  own  salary,  unless  he  gave  them  such  clergymen  as 
they  asked ;  but  they  little  knew  the  spirit  of  the  aged  prelate. 
"  Gentlemen,"  he  replied,  "  you  may  vote  me  a  salary  or  not ;  I 
need  little  ;  I  can  live  in  a  basement  or  a  garret ;  but  whether  I 
come  up  from  my  basement  or  down  from  my  garret,  I  shall  still 
be  your  bishop." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Levnns  was,  however,  sensible  that  this  struggle 
could  only  injure  him,  and  retired  from  the  field.  Irreproach- 
able in  his  moral  conduct,  he  resided  near  the  bishop,  engaged 
in  hterary  pursuits  or  mathematical  studies,  and  even  employed 
his  talents  as  engineer  on  the  Croton  Aqueduct.  Restored 
some  years  after,  he  died  at  New  York,  on  the  6th  of  May, 
1843. 

These  were  not  the  only  troubles  under  the  administration  of 
Bishop  Dubois.  The  outrage  at  Charlestown  had  its  sympathi- 
zers in  New  York,  and  a  couple  of  years  later,  a  mob  asseml^led 
to  destroy  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral ;  but  they  knew  little  of  the 
Catholics  of  New  York  when  they  devised  their  plans.  The 
church  was  put  in  a  state  of  defence  :  the  streets  leading  to  it 
were  torn  up,  and  every  window  was  to  be  a  point  whence  mis- 
siles could  be  thrown  on  the  advancing  horde  of  sacrilegious 
wretches ;  while  the  wall  of  the  churchyard,  rudely  crenelled, 
bristled  with  the  muskets  of  those  ready  for  the  last  struggle  for 
the  altar  of  their  God  and  the  graves  of  those  they  loved.  So 
fearful  a  preparation,  unknown  to  the  enemies  of  religion,  came 
upon  them  like  a  thunderclap  when  their  van  had  nearly  reached 
the  street  leading  to  the  Cathedral ;  they  fled  in  all  directions,  in 
lismay ;  and  so  complete  has  the  prestige  been,  that  neither  in 


398  TIEE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

1844  nor  in  1855  was  there  auy  de'nonstration  against  th< 
cliurclies  in  New  York.* 

New  York  could  now  number  several  churches,  and  others  ha6 
arisen  in  various  parts  of  the  diocese.  These  were  not  all,  how- 
ever, for  Catholics  of  the  English  tongue.  Emigrants  from  Ger- 
many began  to  pour  in,  many  of  whom  were  CathoHcs,  and 
among  the  new  churches  we  find  that  of  St.  Nicholas,  for  the 
Germans,  due  chiefly  to  the  zeal  and  devotedness  of  the  Rev. 
John  Raffeiner,  a  native  of  Brixia,  in  the  Tyrol,  who,  in  1833, 
arriving  in  the  country,  first  began  to  labor  exclusively  among 
the  German  Catholics,  not  only  in  New  York,  but  in  the  vicinity, 
at  Brooklyn,  "W  illiamsburg,  Macopin,  in  New  Jersey,  and  even  as 
far  as  Boston,  Utica,  and  Rochester,  in  almost  all  of  which  he 
erected  the  churches  or  prepared  the  ground  completely  for 
others.f 

This  German  emigration  was  not  all  induced  by  political  rea- 
sons, or  the  desire  of  bettering  their  condition  in  life.  In  aston- 
ishment and  shame,  the  Protestants  of  the  United  States  beheld 
numbers  arrive  whom  the  intolerance  of  the  Prussian  king  had 
forced  to  abandon  their  happy  homes.  "Whole  villages,  with 
their  Lutheran  pastors,  preferred  to  risk  all  in  seeking  the  New 
World,  to  submitting  to  the  tyrannical  behests  of  their  Prot- 
estant monarch,  who  sought  to  constitute  the  various  churches, 
as  he  did  his  army.  Among  the  pastors  who  accompanied  the 
exiles  was  Rev.  John  James  Maximihan  OErtel,  a  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Erlang.  He  had  hoped,  in  free  America,  to  find 
the  Lutheran  churches  faithful  to  their  original  form ;  but,  to  his 
disappointment,  he  beheld  them  voluntarily  blending  with  those 
churches  which  all  the  power  of  Prussia  could  not  force  him  to 
accept.     All  the  doctrines  of  Luther  had  been  abandoned,  eX' 

*  Cartas  a  Elpidio,  ii.  142. 

t  He  erected  St.  Nicholas's  and  St.  John's  at  New  York,  Holy  Trinity  at 
Boston,  Holy  Trinity  in  Williamsburg,  and  another  at  Macopin. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  899 

cept  his  hostility  to  Rome;  and  this  feeling,  which  had  been 
ujrsed  by  the  arbitrary  princes  and  parliaments  of  Europe,  he 
tnoiight  least  characteristic  of  all  of  the  Church  founded  by  our 
Lord.  He  began  to  examine  the  great  religious  question,  and  he 
was  soon  convinced  that  the  Reformers  had  no  divine  mission  to 
alter  the  received  creed  and  worship  of  Christendom ;  and 
that,  without  such  mission,  their  work  w^as  but  a  sacrilege,  such 
as  God  punished  of  old  by  sudden  vengeance  on  those  who  pre- 
tended to  assume  the  priesthood  of  His  worship.  Mr.  QSrtel 
became  a  Catholic,  and  after  being  received  into  the  Church,  has 
devoted  himself  1o  editing  a  German  Catholic  paper. 

Academies  for  the  instruction  of  girls  were  also  formed  by  the 
Sisters  of  Charity,  the  first  having  been  opened  in  1830,  during 
the  absence  of  Bishop  Dubois  in  Europe.  Another  very  flour- 
ishing one  was  afterwards  established  in  the  Seventh  Ward,  and, 
under  the  able  direction  of  Sister  William  Anna,  trained  many 
young  Catholic  ladies  in  useful  learning  and  accomphshments, 
adorned  by  the  practice  of  religion.  This  school,  at  a  later  date, 
gave  rise  to  the  Academy  of  Mount  St.  Vincent,  at  Harlem, 
which  is  now  the  mother-house  of  the  order,  as  founded  by 
Mrs.  Seton. 

Among  the  clergymen  who  joined  the  diocese  of  New  York 
during  the  episcopate  of  Bishop  Dubois,  we  cannot  omit  to  men- 
tion the  Rev.  Charles  C.  Pise,  so  well  known  by  his  popular 
writings  in  prose  and  verse,  and  as  an  accomplished  scholar  and 
preacher.  Before  coming  to  New  York,  he  had  published  a  suc- 
cinct Church  History,  and  subsequently  wrote  the  Lives  of  St. 
Ignatius  and  his  companions,  several  volumes  of  poems,  tales,  a 
work  on  the  Doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  several  minor  trea- 
tises. In  fact,  he  first  endeavored  to  give  the  young  Catholics  of 
America  reading  which  would  b(5  attractive  and  innocent.  Like 
many  good  works,  this  at  first  found  many  assailants,  and,  borne 
down  by  the  fierce  criticism  of  Catholic  reviewers,  the  publisher 


400  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

of  these  popular  Catholic  works  was  compelled  to  stop  the  pub- 
lication. All,  however,  now  admit  the  necessity  of  a  literature  of 
this  kind,  of  which  Dr.  Pise  must  be  considered  the  founder.* 

About  183Y,  Bishop  Dubois  began  to  sink  under  the  labors 
which  the  increase  of  his  diocese  imposed  upon  him.  He  so- 
licited a  coadjutor,  and  the  Kev.  John  Hughes,  of  St.  John's  Church, 
Philadelphia,  was  appointed  by  the  Holy  See,  Bishop  of  Basile- 
opolis  in  partibus  infidelium,  and  Coadjutor  of  the  Bishop  of  New 
York.  At  this  time,  the  diocese  comprised  seven  churches  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  eleven  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  and  four  in 
New  Jersey,  attended  in  all  by  fifty  clergymen,  who,  besides,  vis- 
ited regularly  twelve  other  stations  where  churches  had  not  been 
erected  ;  the  college  at  Nyack  had  been  abandoned,  and  the 
schools  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  at  New  York  and  Albany  w^ere 
the  only  academies,  and  their  orphan  asylums,  in  the  same  cities, 
and  at  Brooklyn  and  Utica,  the  only  eleemosynary  institutions. 

Such  was  the  result  of  the  administration  of  Bishop  Dubois, 
whose  zeal,  ever  checked  or  poorly  seconded,  had  not  been  able 
to  endow  his  diocese  with  those  establishments  which  its  necessi- 
ties imperatively  called  for.  Of  the  clergy  whom  he  had  gath- 
ered around  him,  it  was,  however,  consoling  to  think,  that  sixteen 
had  been  ordained  by  his  own  hands.f 

About  a  fortnight  after  the  appointment  of  his  coadjutor,  the 
venerable  bishop,  whose  healtli  had  been  gradually  failing,  was 
attacked  by  paralysis,  and  never  finally  recovered.  The  duties 
of  his  office  devolved  on  Bishop  Hughes,  who  was  in  the  follow- 
ing year  appointed  administrator  of  the  diocese.  Bishop  Dubois 
prepared  for  his  last  moments  with  all  the  calmness  and  tranquil 
piety  which  had  characterized  him  in  life,  taking  the  deepest  in- 
terest in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  flock  to  which  he  had  been 

*  For  a  notice  of  Dr.  Pise  and  his  works,  you  may  consult  Duyckinck's 
Cyclopaedia  of  American  Litei-ature. 
t  Catholic  Almanac  for  1838,  p.  83. 


IN"   THE    UNITED   STATES.  401 

BO  loTig  attached.  He  expired  at  his  residence,  on  Tuesday,  the 
20th  of  December,  1§42,  without  a  struggle  and  without  a  sigh, 
with  a  prayer  on  his  lips,  and  a  sweet  hope  of  heavenly  rest  in 
his  heart.  At  his  own  humble  request,  he  was  interred  under 
the  pavement  before  the  main  door  of  his  cathedral. 

Bishop  Dubois  can  never  be  forgotten  in  the  annals  of  the 
American  Church  :  whether  we  regard  him  in  the  outset  of  his 
career  as  the  young  missionary,  of  iron  constitution,  teaching  for 
his  support  and  evangelizing  Norfolk  and  Richmond ;  or  as  pas- 
tor at  Frederick,  visiting  the  vast  district  committed  to  his  care, 
when,  to  use  the  words  of  the  venerable  clergyman  who  pro- 
nounced his  funeral  discourse,  "  he  was  the  pastor  of  all  Western 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  for  some  time  the  only  Catholic 
priest  between  the  city  of  Baltimore  and  the  city  of  St.  Louis ;" 
or,  at  a  later  date,  erecting  the  college  at  the  Mount,  and,  by  di- 
recting Mrs.  Seton,  taking  so  active  a  part  in  the  good  accom- 
plished by  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  As  bishop,  he  did  not  forget 
his  early  predilection,  and  was  ever  more  assiduous  in  catechising 
the  young  than  in  preaching  to  the  grown.  His  career  as  a 
bishop  we  have  seen  one  of  unostentatious,  but  active  and  un- 
tiring benevolence.  His  visitations  of  his  diocese  were  frequent, 
and,  though  ever  anxious  for  the  preservation  of  ecclesiastical 
discipline,  he  was  a  kind  father  to  his  clergy,  a  friend  and  bene- 
factor to  the  poor,  a  pastor  full  of  solicitude  to  supply  abundantly 
the  spiritual  wants  of  his  extensive  diocese* 

His  worth  was  not  unrecognized.  Immediately  after  his  death, 
the  faculty  and  students  of  Mount  St.  Mary'&  convened,  and  re- 
solved to  erect  a  monument  at  the  mountain  to  "  the  founder  of 
Mount  St.  Mary's  College  and  Seminary,  and  the  father  of  the 
Institution  of  Sisters  of  Charity  in  this  country." 

*  Eov.  John  M'Caffrey,  Discourse  on  the  Eight  Rev.  John  Dubois,  D.  D., 
Gettysburg,  1843.  Bisliop  Bayley,  Brief  Sketch,  pp.  103,  104.  Catholic  Al- 
manac, 1845,  p.  43.    White,  Life  of  xMrs.  Seton,  446. 


402  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 


CHAPTER     XXV. 

DIOCESE    OF    NEW    YORK (1838-1856), 

Eight  Eev.  John  Hughes,  Coadjutor  and  then  Bishop  of  New  York— He  overthir.w* 
trusteeism— The  school  question— Bishop  Hughes  before  the  Common  Council— St. 
John's  College— The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  and  Madame  Gallitzin- The  Ee- 
demptorists— The  Tractarian  movement,  and  the  conversions  resulting  from  it— 
The  French  Church  and  the  Bishop  of  Nancy— Appointment  of  Right  Rev.  John 
McCloskey  as  Coadjutor— The  Sisters  of  Mercy — Reorganization  of  the  Sisters  oi 
Charity— Division  of  the  diocese— Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools— Progress  oi 
Catholicity  in  other  parts  of  the  diocese— New  York  erected  into  an  archiepiscopal 
See— Erection  of  the  Sees  of  Brooklyn  and  Newark— First  Provincial  Council  of  New 
York— The  Church  Property  Bill  and  the  discussion  with  Senator  Brooks— Ret- 
rospect. 

No  prelate  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States  has  been  more 
widely  known,  or  attracted  a  greater  share  of  the  public  atten- 
tion, than  the  Right  Rev.  John  Hughes,  who,  under  the  title  of 
Bishop  of  Basileopolis,  became,  in  1838,  the  Coadjutor  of  the 
Diocese  of  New  York.  Possessing  in  an  eminent  degree  the 
talent  of  discerning  the  public  mind,  and  its  constant  fluctua- 
tions, able  and  eloquent  as  an  orator  and  controversialist,  he 
will  rank  among  the  statesmen  no  less  than  among  the  prelates 
of  America.  Born  in  Ireland,  of  a  family  originally  Welsh,  but 
long  identified  with  the  Scoto-Irish,  he  was  the  son  of  a  farmer 
of  moderate  but  comfortable  means,  and  owed  his  early  training 
to  the  care  of  a  kind  and  careful  mother,  to  whom  he  thus  beau- 
tifully alludes  in  his  letter  to  General  Cass :  "  The  first  person 
whose  acquaintance  I  made  on  this  earth  was  a  woman.  Her 
pretensions  were  humble,  but  to  me  she  was  a  great  lady — nay, 
a  very  queen  and  empress.  She  was  more — she  was  my  earliest 
friend ;  my  visible,  palpable  guardian-angel.     If  she  smiled  ap' 


IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.  403 

proval  on  me,  it  was  as  a  ray  from  Paradise  shed  on  my  heart 
If  she  frowned  disapproval,  it  seemed  like  a  partial  or  total  eclipse 
of  the  sun."* 

Without  friend,  protector,  or  patron,  he  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1817,  and  proceeded  to  Mount  St.  Mary's,  in  order  to 
enter  as  a  seminarian.  No  vacancy  existed,  and  for  a  time  he 
pursued  his  studies  privately;  but  soon  obtained  entrance,  and 
•for  seven  or  eight  years  prosecuted  his  studies  and  taught  the 
various  classes  committed  to  his  care.  Ordained  priest,  he  was 
sent  to  Philadelphia,  and  here,  for  eleven  years,  won  general  re- 
spect and  esteem  by  his  zealous  discharge  of  the  duties  of  a 
Christian  pastor.  He  erected  St.  John's  Church  to  meet  the  in- 
creasing wants  of  the  Catholic  public,  and  established  a  perma- 
nent reputation  as  a  controversialist  by  his  discussions  with  the 
Rev.  John  Breckenridge,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  who  had 
publicly  challenged  the  Catholics  to  discuss  the  great  question 
of  religion  with  him.  The  controversy  was  at  first  carried  on 
in  writing,  on  the  subject,  "  Is  the  Protestant  religion  the  religion 
of  Christ  ?"  and  Mr.  Breckenridge,  after  some  months,  defeated 
at  every  step,  virtually  abandoned  the  field.  He  subsequently 
returned  to  the  attack,  and  insisted  on  an  oral  discussion.  Again 
did  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hughes  meet  the  champion  of  Protestantism, 
on  the  question,  "  Is  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  in  any  or  in 
all  its  principles  or  doctrines,  inimical  to  civil  or  religious  liber 
ty  ?"  and  again,  by  the  common  consent  of  all  impartial  judges, 
most  signally  triumphed  over  his  adversary,  upholding  the  tiuth 
of  history,  showing  not  only  that  the  Catholic  Church  had  never 
sanctioned  persecution,  much  less  made  it  a  part  of  her  creed, 
but  that  Protestantism  rose  by  rapine  and  persecution,  and  only 
by  violence  had  been  able  to  maintain  its  existence. f 


*  Keply  to  General  Cass,  p.  15. 

t  Oral  Discussion  on  the  Koman  Catholic  Eeligion.     Philadelphia,  1836 . 


404  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

These  discussions  were  not  fruitless :  they  enabled  the  Rev, 
Mr.  Hughes  to  gain  to  the  Church  many  Protestant  families,  and 
among  other  persons  of  eminence,  Dr.  W.  E.  Horner,  a  physi- 
cian whose  eminent  reputation  for  medical  science  was  by  no 
means  confined  to  his  native  country,  and  whose  anatomical 
works  enjoy  the  highest  reputation. 

The  appointment  of  Dr.  Hughes  as  Coadjutor  of  New  York 
was  a  new  era  for  Catholicity  in  that  extensive  diocese.  He 
came  at  a  moment  when  trusteeism  was  in  open  array  against 
the  Episcopal  authority,  and  he  resolved  to  overthrow  a  sys- 
tem so  much  at  variance  with  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  and 
which  had  in  the  United  States  proved  so  prejudicial  to  religion. 
As  the  trustees  claimed  to  hold  the  treasury  and  so  rule  the 
house  of  God,  he  at  once  appealed  to  the  faithful,  whom  the 
trustees  could  in  no  sense  be  said  to  represent ;  and  advised  the 
people  to  give  their  collection,  not  to  their  rebellious  trustees,  but 
to  their  duly  appointed  pastors,  whose  support  was  by  the  laws 
of  the  Church  obligatory  upon  them.  Following  up  the  ground 
taken  in  the  pastoral  address  of  Bishop  Dubois  to  the  congrega- 
tion of  his  Cathedral,  in  February,  1838,  he  presided  at  a  meet- 
ing, and  so  clearly  developed  the  real  state  of  the  question,  that 
it  was  determined  that  the  whole  system  should  in  future  be 
made  to  conform  to  the  canon  law.  Another  cause  soon  led  to 
the  complete  overthrow  of  trusteeism  :  this  was  the  extravagance 
of  the  expenditure  of  the  Church  moneys  by  the  boards  of  trus- 
tees, and  the  bankruptcy  of  five  boards  of  as  many  churches  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  out  of  eight,  the  whole  number  then  ex- 
isting. Of  these,  that  of  St.  Peter's,  in  Barclay-street,  owed 
debts  amounting  to  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  churches  were  all  assigned  or  sold  by  the  sheriff,  and 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Bishop  Hughes,  who  purchased  them  in 
his  own  right,  to  save  them  from  desecration.  The  State  gov- 
ernment, which  had  viewed  with  satisfaction  this  sad  state  of 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  405 

Catholic  affairs,  produced  by  the  operation  of  the  act  of  religious 
incorporation,  seems  to  have  regretted  that  the  bishop  should 
have  been  able  to  secure  the  buildings  again  for  Catholic  wor- 
ship, and,  as  we  shall  see,  passed  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
acts  which  can  be  found  on  the  statute-books  of  any  civilized 
country ;  an  act  which  pretended  to  take  from  the  bishop  prop- 
erty which  he  had  purchased,  and  restore  it,  w^ithout  compensa- 
tion, to  the  very  boards  of  trustees  whose  legal  title  had  been 
legally  sold  by  operation  of  law  !* 

Soon  after  his  consecration.  Bishop  Hughes  resolved  to  visit 
Europe,  and  obtain  the  succor  which  religion  needed  in  the  dio- 
cese to  which  he  had  been  appointed.  For  this  purpose,  in  the 
course  of  the  year  1839  he  visited  France,  Austria,  and  Italy, 
everywhere  impressing  those  whom  he  met  with  his  rare  ability. 
Having  obtained  much  momentary  aid  and  formed  his  plans  for 
the  religious  institutions  of  his  diocese,  he  returned  without  de- 
lay to  his  post.  There  a  question  of  great  importance  had  at 
last  come  before  the  public,  and  one  in  which  the  bishop  could 
not  be  a  mere  spectator.  New  York  had  its  free  schools,  sus- 
tained by  the  State,  and  its  pubHc  schools  under  the  control  of  a 
private  society,  but  receiving  public  moneys  to  carry  on  their 
establishments.  Not  one  of  these  schools  was  such  that  a  Cath- 
olic parent  could  conscientiously  send  a  child  to  it.  In  all,  the 
reading  of  the  mutilated  version  of  the  Scriptures,  termed  the 
King  James's  Bible,  was  obligatory,  and  it  was  expounded  by 
Protestant  teachers ;  in  all,  the  school-books  contained  slanders, 
insults,  and  absurdities  in  regard  to  Catholics  and  their  religion  ; 
and  such  schools,  supported  by  public  money,  were  the  only  free 
schools  in  which  the  poorer  Catholics  could  obtain  the  rudi- 
ments of  knowledge.     Had  Protestantism  been  the  established 


*  See  his  Letter  on  the  moral  causes  that  have  produced  the  evil  spirit  of 
the  times,  p.  10. 


4:06  THE    CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

religion  of  tlie  State  of  New  York,  this  would  have  been  en- 
durable ;  but,  as  the  law  established  no  religion.  Catholics  pro- 
tested. So  flagrant  did  the  wrong  appear,  that  a  Senator  of  the 
State  inserted  an  article  in  a  CathoHc  paper  mooting  the  ques- 
tion of  a  regulation  of  the  schools  so  as  to  make  them  free  to  all. 
The  Catholics  began  to  hold  meetings,  formed  an  association,  and 
devised  plans  for  obtaining  relief;  the  governor  of  the  State  called 
attention  to  the  matter  in  his  message,  but  the  New  York  Com- 
mon Council  rejected  the  memorial  of  the  Catholics.  It  became 
the  great  question  of  the  day. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  Bishop  Hughes  return- 
ed to  his  See.  To  prevent  the  matter  from  being  made  a  politi- 
cal hobby,  he  resolved  to  attend  the  meetings,  and,  exercising  his 
right  as  a  citizen,  did  so.  "  In  these  meetings,"  we  quote  his 
own  language,  "  the  question  was  discussed — the  imperfect  edu- 
cation afforded  by  our  own  charity  schools — the  vast  number 
who  could  not  be  received  at  them — and  would  not  be  sent  to  the 
schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  on  account  of  the  strong 
anti-Catholic  tendencies  which  they  manifested  through  the  me- 
dium of  objectionable  books,  prejudiced  teachers,  and  sectarian 
influences."* 

The  most  important  of  these  meetings  was  held  on  the  20th  of 
July,  1840  ;  the  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Power  presided,  and  the  bishop 
for  the  first  time  addressed  the  Catholics,  and  advised  careful  but 
firm  action.  On  the  10th  of  August  an  address  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  to  their  fellow-citizens  appeared,  to  which  the  Public 
School  Society  issued  a  reply.  Then,  in  a  general  meeting,  the 
Catholics,  on  the  21st  of  September,  adopted  a  petition  to  the 
Common  Council  for  relief,  which,  after  exposing  the  sectarian 
character  of  the  Public  Schools,  and  the  fact  that  Catholics  had 


*  Letter  on  the  moral  causes  that  have  produced  the  evil  spirit  of  the 
imes,  p.  8. 


In  the  united  states.  407 

been  compelled  to  erect  schools  of  their  own,  which  they  offered 
to  submit  to  the  conditions  of  the  law  with  regard  to  religions 
teaching,  concluded  thus  :  "  Your  petitioners,  therefore,  pray  that 
your  honorable  body  will  be  pleased  to  designate  as  among  the 
schools  entitled  to  participate  in  the  Common  School  fund,  upon 
complying  with  the  requirements  of  the  Inw,  or  for  such  other 
I'clief  as  to  your  honorable  body  shall  seem  meet,"  St.  Patrick's, 
and  six  other  schools  which  they  named. 

To  this  petition  two  remonstrances  were  made — one  by  the 
trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  the  other  by  a  com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  pastors  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  On  the  29th  of  October,  1840,  the  parties  appeared 
before  the  Common  Council.  On  the  side  of  the  Catholic  peti- 
tioners, the  bishop  set  forth  their  claims  and  answered  the  re- 
monstrances ;  the  Public  School  Society  had  employed  two  emi- 
nent lawyers,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  Esq.,  and  Hiram  Ketchum, 
who  now  answered  the  arguments  of  the  bishop :  the  former 
by  an  historical  view  of  our  Common  Schools,  and  an  attempt 
to  show  that  the  Public  School  Society,  being  good  and  suflS- 
cicnt,  was  entitled  to  a  monopoly  in  the  matter  of  public  in- 
struction ;  the  latter  wrecked  his  reputation  as  an  advocate  by 
personal  attacks  on  the  bishop,  whom  he  could  style  only  "  the 
mitred  gentleman,"  and  by  completely  ignoring  the  petition,  and 
representing  it  as  an  attempt  of  the  Catholics  to  deprive  Prot- 
estants of  the  Bible.  These  were  followed,  on  subsequent  even- 
ings, by  Rev.  Drs.  Bond,  Bangs,  and  Reese,  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  Rev.  Dr.  Knox,  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian 
Church,  each  of  whom,  in  turn,  seemed  to  suppose  that  the 
Catholic  rehgion  was  the  subject  of  discussion,  and  commented 
on  its  tenets  with  all  the  zeal  of  partisans.  When  all  had  ended, 
the  bishop  rose  to  reply.  Summing  up  the  real  question,  so 
much  lost  sight  of,  he  said  :  "  It  is  the  glory  of  this  country,  that 


408  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

when  it  is  found  that  a  wrong  exists,  there  is  a  power,  an  irre- 
sistible power,  to  correct  the  wrong.  They  have  represented  us 
as  contending  to  bring  the  Catholic  Scriptures  into  the  Public 
Schools.  This  is  not  true.  They  have  represented  us  as  ene- 
mies to  the  Protestant  Scriptures,  '  without  note  or  comment ;' 
and  on  this  subject  I  know  not  whether  their  intention  was  to 
make  an  impression  on  your  honorable  body,  or  to  elicit  a  sym- 
pathetic echo  elsewhere  ;  but  whatever  their  object  was,  they 
have  represented  that  even  here  Catholics  have  not  concealer 
their  enmity  to  the  Scriptures.-  Now,  if  I  had  asked  this  hon- 
orable board  to  exclude  the  Protestant  Scriptures  from  the 
schools,  then  there  might  have  been  some  coloring  for  the  cur- 
rent calumny.  But  I  have  not  done  so.  I  say — Gentlemen  of 
every  denomination,  keep  the  Scriptures  you  reverence,  but  do 
not  force  on  me  that  which  my  conscience  tells  me  is  wrong.  I 
may  be  wrong,  as  you  may  be  ;  and,  as  you  exercise  your  judg- 
ment, be  pleased  to  allow  the  same  privilege  to  a  fellow-being 
who  must  appear  before  our  common  God,  and  answer  for  the 
exercise  of  it.  I  wish  to  do  nothing  like  what  is  charged  upon 
me ;  that  is  not  the  purpose  for  which  we  petition  this  honor- 
able board  in  the  name  of  the  community  to  which  I  belong. 
I  appear  here  for  other  objects ;  and  if  our  petition  be  granted, 
our  schools  may  be  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the  public 
authorities,  or  even  of  commissioners  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Public  School  Society  ;  they  may  be  put  under  the  same  super- 
vision as  the  existing  schools,  to  see  that  none  of  those  phan- 
toms, nor  any  grounds  for  those  suspicions,  which  are  as  unchari- 
table as  unfounded,  can  have  existence  in  reality.  There  is, 
then,  but  one  simple  question — Will  you  compel  us  to  pay  a  tax 
from  which  we  can  receive  no  benefit,  and  to  frequent  schools 
which  injure  and  destroy  our  relig-ious  rights  in  the  minds  of  our 
ehildren,  and  of  which  in  our  consciences  we  cannot  approve  I 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  409 

Tliat  is  the  simple  question."*  He  then,  in  a  most  able  speech, 
answered  all  his  opponents,  legal  and  clerical,  and  showed  con- 
vincingly that  not  a  solitary  principle  laid  down  by  him,  or  laid 
down  in  the  petition,  had  been  refuted  by  them,  and  that  there- 
fore there  must  be  something  powerful  in  the  plain,  unsophisti- 
cated, simple  statement  of  the  petition,  when  all  the  reasoning 
brought  against  it  had  left  it  just  where  it  was  before. 

Simple  as  the  petition  of  the  Catholics  was — that  their  schools 
conforming  to  the  law  should  enjoy  a  share  in  the  public  moneys 
monopolized  by  the  Public  School  Society,  a  Protestant  institu- 
tion which  ignored  the  law — the  question  was  misstated  in  the 
hall  of  the  Common  Council,  and  has  been  misrepresented  a 
thousand  times.  The  fact  that  the  Catholics  proposed  to  sub- 
ject their  schools  to  State  supervision,  and  conform  the  teaching 
to  the  State  requirements,  is  perpetually  overlooked,  and  the 
charge  that  Catholics  asked  the  exclusion  of  the  Bible  repeated 
in  a  thousand  shapes.  The  question  was  no  longer  before  the 
tribunal  of  justice;  it  had  been  evoked  before  that  of  prejudice 
— what  wonder  that  the  petition  of  the  Catholics  was  rejected? 
But  the  blow  had  been  struck :  the  fact  was  clear  that  the 
Catholic  bishop  had  met  triumphantly  the  best  array  of  legal 
and  clerical  talent  in  the  city,  and  though  the  Common  Council 
might  decide  against  him,  the  whole  country  beheld  him  with 
admiration. f 

The  Catholics  had  anticipated  the  result ;  but  the  step  taken 
was  necessary  before  submitting  the  case  to  the  Legislature  of 
the  State,  ^n  due  tiine  petitions  were  forwarded,  signed  by  a 
large  number  of  citizens.  Catholics  and  Protestants,  natives  as 
well  as  foreigners.  The  prayer  of  this  petition  was  received  fa- 
vorably, because  it  seemed  to  be  but  reasonable  and  just.     A 

*•  Report,  J  .  1.  +  Bayley,  Sketch  of  the  CathDlic  Church,  111. 

18 


410  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

bill  was  drawn  up  whicli  passed  the  Assembly,  but  at  the  closo 
of  tlie  session  was  lost  in  the  other  house  !  All  now  looked  for- 
ward to  the  next  Legislatui-e ;  and  no  calumny  that  ingenuity 
could  devise  was  left  untried  to  prejudice  the  popular  mind 
against  the  Catholics,  and  to  lead  to  a  resistance  to  any  change 
in  the  law.  As  the  election  drew  nigh,  the  opponents  of  free 
education  called  on  voters  to  require  the  candidates  of  both  po- 
litical parties  to  pledge  themselves  to  refuse  the  prayer  of  the 
petitioners.  The  candidates  of  the  Whig  party  did  so;  the 
candidates  of  the  Democratic  party,  to  which  the  great  mass  of 
the  Catholics  belonged,  did  so ;  and  the  Catholics  saw  an  elec- 
tion approach,  at  which  every  candidate,  without  waiting  for  a 
discussion  in  the  legislative  halls,  had  decided  to  deny  them  jus- 
tice. No  alternative  was  left.  Those  who  asked  schools  free  from 
sectarian  bias — where  teachers  should  not  be  allowed  to  attack 
any  creed,  where  no  school-books  should  slur  on  any  church, 
where  neither  Protestant  nor  Catholic  Bible  should  be  forced  on 
those  who  disowned  it — resolved  to  adopt  a  new  and  indepen- 
dent ticket.  As  the  bishop  well  remarked,  "they  would  deserve 
the  injustice  and  degradation  of  which  they  complained,  if  they 
voted  for  judges  publicly  pledged  beforehand  to  pass  sentence 
against  them."* 

This  step,  totally  unexpected  by  the  Democratic  party,  which 
counted  the  Catholics  as  its  willing  slaves,  left  them  in  a  minor- 
ity, and  they  were  totally  defeated.  The  election  showed  the 
numerical  force  of  the  Catholics,  and  the  Whigs  now  sought  to 
gain,  the  Democrats  to  recall  them.  All  the  politicians  who  had 
scorned  the  petitions  of  the  Catholics  became  suddenly  sensible 
that  the  old  school  law  was  very  defective,  and  before  long  a 
new  act  was  passed,  erecting  ward-schools  on  a  far  more  equita- 

*  See  the  whole  matter  in  the  important  and  interesting  debate  on  the 
claim  of  the  Catholics  to  a  portion  of  the  Common  School  Fund.  New  York, 
1840. 


IN  THE    UNITED    STATES.  411 

Mc  basis.  "  Experience  has  since  shown,"  says  Bishop  Bayley, 
"  that  the  new  system,  though  administered  with  as  much  fair- 
ness and  impartiahty  as  could  be  expected  under  the  circum- 
stances, is  one  which,  as  excluding  all  religious  instruction,  is 
most  fatal  to  the  morals  and  religious  principles  of  our  children, 
and  makes  it  evident  that  our  only  resource  is  to  establish 
schools  of  our  own,  where  sound  religious  knowledge  shall  be 
imparted  at  the  same  time  with  secular  instruction." 

We  have  seen  in  Philadelphia  how  this  question,  distorted 
and  misrepresented,  was  made  by  fanatics  the  means  of  organiz- 
ing a  new  political  party,  which,  under  the  name  of  Native 
Americans,  for  a  time  carried  the  elections,  and  left  as  monu- 
ments of  its  history,  riots,  rebellion,  murder,  devastation,  and 
sacrilege.  Then  and  since,  whenever  it  has  been  the  policy  of 
the  fanatic  to  fan  the  flame  of  ignorant  bigotry,  the  conduct  of 
the  bishop  has  been  made  the  subject  of  misrepresentation  and 
accusation.  In  his  letter  to  the  Hon.  James  Harper,  Native 
American  mayor  of  the  city  in  1844,  he  says,  and  defies  contra- 
diction :  "  I  have  never  asked  or  wished  that  any  denomination 
should  be  deprived  of  the  Bible,  or  such  version  of  the  Bible  as 
that  denomination  conscientiously  approved  in  our  common 
schools.  I  have  never  requested  or  authorized  the  blackening  of 
the  public  school  books  in  the  city  of  New  York."  Charged 
with  intriguing  with  political  parties,  he  denied  it  absolutely, 
and  says :  "  When  no  alternative  was  left  to  the  people,  long  de- 
prived of  the  rights  of  education,  but  to  vote  for  candidates 
bound  by  pledges  to  deny  them  justice  and  even  refuse  them  a 
hearing,  and  this  on  the  very  eve  of  the  election,  I  urged  them 
with  all  the  powers  of  n.y  mind  and  heart  to  repel  the  disgust- 
ing indignity  of  this  stratagem.  I  told  them  to  cut  their  way 
through  this  circle  of  fire,  with  which  the  opponents  of  the 
rights  of  education  narrow-mindedly  and  ungenerously  sur- 
rounded them.     I  told  them  that  they  woyld  be  signing  and 


412  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

sealing  the'  own  degradation  if  they  voted  for  men  pledged  Lo 
refuse  thc/n  even  the  chance  of  justice.  But  then  no  party — nc 
individual  of  any  party — had  any  thing  to  do  with  the  prompt- 
ing of  this  advice  but  myself.  It  sprang  from  my  own  innate 
sense  of  duty — my  own  conception  of  the  rights  of  a  constituency 
in  a  free  government." 

Such  is  in  brief  the  history  of  the  famous  School  Question  in 
New  York — a  question  simple  in  itself,  but  which  Providence 
permitted  to  be  the  instrument  of  evoking  to  life  and  strength 
the  dormant  hatred  of  Catholicity  slumbering  in  the  bosom  of 
American  Protestantism.  The  words  of  freedom  and  equality 
had  been  repeated  till  they  were  actually  supposed  to  exist ;  but 
when  Catholics  sought  to  make  them  realities,  they  found  that 
they  were  mere  conventional  symbols,  names  of  political  myths. 

The  bishop's  labors  for  education  were  nort  limited  to  this. 
Like  his  venerable  prelate,  he  sought  to  erect  a  college,  and  ad- 
vanced rapidly  the  arrangements  of  St.  John's  College  at  Ford- 
ham,  which  he  had  purchased  in  1839.  To  his  great  consolation 
and  the  joy  of  the  Catholics  of  his  diocese,  it  opened  on  the  24th 
of  June,  1841,  the  Rev.  John  McCloskey,  since  Archbishop  and 
Cardinal,  graduate  of  Mount  St.  Mary's,  and  universally  esteemed 
for  his  talents,  prudence,  and  amiableness,  being  the  first  presi- 
dent.  Under  his  administration  it  soon  acquired  a  name  which 
it  has  ever  preserved.  He  was  soon,  however,  succeeded  by  the 
able  and  learned  Dr.  Ambrose  Manahan,  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent clergymen  in  the  United  States,  and  then  by  the  Rev.  John 
Ilarley,  a  man  peculiarly  fitted  for  his  post,  who  introduced  an 
admirable  system  of  study  and  discipline,  and  won  in  a  singular 
degree  the  affection  and  esteem  of  the  pupils. 

The  same  year  that  beheld  the  opening  of  this  new  colleg© 
saw  rise  beside  it  a  beautiful  building  for  the  theological  sera 
nary  of  the  diocese — another  fruit  of  the  zealous  labors  of  tL 
bishop.    This  institution  has  ever  since  continued  in  a  flourishing 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  413 

condition,  having  in  1845,  when  the  college,  as  we  shall  see, 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  re- 
ceived professors  of  that  celebrated  Order,  under  whose  zealous 
care  nearly  fifty  priests  have  been  formed  to  the  ecclesiastical 
state. 

The  introduction  of  a  religious  Order  capable  of  giving  the 
highest  order  of  education  to  young  Catholic  maidens  was  an- 
other object  of  the  zealous  prelate,  and  he  succeeded  in  obtaining 
from  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  a  colony  of  their  Order. 
The  Sisters  selected  by  the  Mother-general  of  the  Order  arrived 
in  1841,  and,  founding  a  house  of  their  Order,  immediately 
opened  an  academy  at  the  corner  of  Houston  and  Mulberry 
streets,  in  the  building  now  occupied  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy. 
Of  the  origin  of  this  society  we  have  spoken  elsewhere,  as  well 
as  of  their  rules  and  system  of  education,  both  based  on  the  ad- 
mirable discipline  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  The  Superior  of  the 
community  who  founded  the  convent  in  New  York — now  be- 
come the  mother  house  of  the  province,  or  vicariate  of  the  North 
— was  Madame  Elizabeth  Gallitzin,  whose  history  we  cannot  but 
insert.  Born  in  Russia,  of  that  princely  family  which  had  given 
the  American  Church  one  apostle,  she  was  brought  up  in  the 
Greek  Church,  although  her  mother  had  secretly  embraced  the 
Catholic  faith — a  circumstance  of  which  she  was  not  aware  until 
her  fifteenth  birthday.  On  the  morning  of  that  day,  her  mother 
having  called  her  into  her  private  apartment,  disclosed  to  her  the 
secret  of  her  religion.  The  communication  deeply  afilicted  the 
young  Elizabeth,  and,  withdrawing  from  her  mother's  presence, 
she  wept  bitterly  at  what  she  considered  a  heinous  crime.  After 
some  time  she  began  to  reflect  upon  the  causes  that  had  led  to 
her  mother's  change,  and  unable  to  discover  any  other,  she  con- 
cluded it  must  have  been  owing  to  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits, 
several  of  whom  visited  the  house.  Filled  with  the  deepest 
anxiety,  she  said  to  herself,  "  If  these  hj^ocrites  have  so  seduced 


4:14:  TnE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

my  excellent  and  prudent  mother,  what  eftect  will  not  their  influ- 
ence have  on  me  !"  and  she  recalled  to  mind  with  terror  that  one 
was  actually  her  preceptor  in  the  ItaHan  tongue.  She  sought 
with  earnestness  a  protection  against  the  dangers  by  which  she 
felt  herself  surrounded,  and  a  sudden  thought  flashing  upon  her 
mind,  she  resolved  to  write  a  solemn  oath  never  to  change  her 
rehgion,  and  to  recite  it  daily.  Having  done  this  she  was  more 
composed,  and  retiring  to  rest,  slept,  as  she  herself  expresses  it, 
"  better  than  usual."  From  this  time  the  tone  of  her  existence 
seemed  changed.  Her  mother's  fearful  secret,  the  discovery  of 
which  involved  exile  or  death,  hung  heavily  upon  her  mind,  and 
though  during  the  daytime  she  appeared  gay,  at  night  she 
watered  her  couch  with  tears.  Deference  for  her  mother  and 
fear  of  wounding  feelings  sacred  in  her  eyes,  however  mistaken 
and  criminal  she  might  consider  them,  imposed  likewise  a  re- 
straint upon  her  intercourse  with  their  Jesuit  visitors,  and  par- 
ticularly her  preceptor.  The  latter  was  in  the  habit  of  presenting 
her  pictures,  rosaries,  etc.,  and  though  her  very  soul  loathed 
these  emblems  of  Catholic  faith,  yet  through  affection  for  her 
mother  she  accepted  them. 

To  a  mind  like  hers,  this  appearance  of  deceit,  however  justi- 
fiable in  its  motives,  was  intolerable.  She  finally  resolved  to  re- 
turn her  preceptor  his  gifts,  with  a  note  explaining  her  reasons, 
and  she  did  so,  after  submitting  the  note  to  her  mother,  for  not- 
withstanding her  repugnance,  she  never  forgot  the  respect  due 
her  parent. 

Some  months  after,  her  Italian  preceptor  having  died,  her 
mother  requested  her  t(x.  attend  the  funeral  service.  Elizabeth 
consented,  though  unwillingly.  As  she  entered  the  church  she 
seemed  to  hear  an  interior  voice  say,  "  You  hate  the  Catholics, 
but  you  will  one  day  be  a  Catholic  yourself."  This  thought  so 
distressed  her  that  she  wept  bitterly.  Still  the  dictates  of  her 
naturally  noble  heart  soon  reminded  her  that  it  was  wrong  to 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  415 

indulge  feelings  of  hatred  against  any  one.  Conscience  re- 
proached her  for  her  dislike  of  Catholics  and  Jesuits,  and  falling 
on  ner  knees,  she  poured  forth  fervent  prayers  for  them. 

Another  incident  painful  to  her  heart  soon  occurred.  One  of 
her  near  relatives  became  a  Catholic.  Elizabeth  was  much 
grieved,  but  with  characteristic  generosity  forbore  to  censure  in 
any  manner  her  cousiu's  conduct.  "She  thinks  her  course 
right,"  said  she,  "  and  therefore  I  commend  her  for  acting  as  she 
has  done."  This  lady,  in  a  conversation  with  the  princess,  pressed 
her  to  read  some  books  whose  titles  she  mentioned,  and  even 
presented  her  with  one,  oftering  to  send  her  the  others  whenever 
she  should  desire  them.  Elizabeth  took  the  book  through  cour- 
tesy, but  replied  to  the  offer,  that  being  thoroughly  convinced  of 
the  truth  of  her  religion,  she  did  not  anticipate  having  any  need 
of  information  concerning  other  creeds.  These  were  her  words 
in  the  morning;  the  ensuing  night  beheld  her  a  Catholic  in 
heart  and  truth. 

Returning  home,  for  the  first  time  she  hesitated  to  renew  her 
oath — that  oath  which  for  twelve  months  no  weariness  could  in- 
duce her  to  omit.  A  feeling  of  its  rashness  came  over  her ;  she 
paused  ere  she  knelt  to  repeat  the  solemn  words — a  powerful 
grace  was  busy  in  her  heart.  She  laid  the  paper  aside  and  re- 
tired to  rest.  Tumultuous  and  various  thoughts  agitated  her ; 
she  could  not  sleep,  and  finally  rising  from  her  restless  couch, 
her  eyes  fell  upon  the  book  presented  her  in  the  morning.  She 
opened  it ;  nor  had  she  read  many  pages  before  the  full  light  of 
truth  beamed  upon  her — she  fell  upon  her  knees — she  was  a 
Catholic. 

But  arguments  were  necessary  to  meet  the  objections  that 
would  be  urged  against  her  faith.  She  hastily  wrote  the  follow- 
ing words  to  her  cousin  :  "  Send  me  your  books — pray  for  me, 
and  hope."  Some  hours  after  she  was  summoned  to  meet  her 
mother,  to  whom  she  had  yet  to  communicate  her  joyful  secret. 


416  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Her  full  heart  was  relieved  by  a  flood  of  tears,  amid  which  sho 
poured  forth  to  her  rejoicing  parent  the  recital  of  all  that  had 
passed  within  her  during  that  eventful  night. 

The  young  princess  had  received  from  God  a  favor,  great  in- 
deed, but  his  mercy  in  her  regard  did  not  stop  here.  She  heard 
the  voice  of  his  grace  speaking  to  her  heart,  and  calling  her  to 
his  spouse.  Long  years,  however,  elapsed  before  she  could  re- 
spond, the  czar  obstinately  refusing  permission  to  leave  the  coun- 
try ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  age  of  thirty  that  she  was  free.  She 
then  immediately  offered  herself  to  the  Society  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  and  was  received  into  the  Roman  novitiate,  where  she 
edified  all  by  her  fervor  and  exact  fidelity  to  the  rules. 

After  her  prof.'ssion  she  discharged  with  great  prudence  many 
high  oflSces  in  the  Society,  and  was  finally  sent  by  the  Superior- 
general  to  America  as  Visitatrix  of  the  Order.  Two  special  ob- 
jects were  also  intrusted  to  her  zeal  and  care — the  foundation  of 
the  house  at  New  York,  and  of  the  Pottowatamee  mission.  The 
former,  by  the  aid  and  encouragement  of  the  worthy  bishop,  she 
soon  accomplished ;  and  having  seen  the  academy  frequented  by 
pupils  of  the  highest  order,  she  set  out  for  the  West,  and  by  long 
and  laborious  journeys  reached  the  Pottowatamee  village.  There 
her  indomitable  energy  and  the  grace  of  Him  to  whom  she  had 
devoted  her  life,  and  for  whose  interest  she  labored,  triumphed 
over  every  obstacle.  This  mission  still  exists,  the  work  of  predi- 
lection of  the  Order. 

Madame  Gallitzin  then  proceeded  to  visit  the  houses  of  her 
Order  in  the  South,  and  twice  sailed  from  Paris  to  New  Orleans 
in  the  discharge  of  her  duties,  edifying  all  by  her  piety,  her  inex- 
haustible charity,  and  readiness  to  serve  others.  Ever  forgetful 
of  herself,  she  endeavored  in  her  humility  to  conceal  her  great 
talents ;  but  her  hfe,  a  living  pictm'e  of  religious  virtues,  only 
showed  them  a  clear  relief.  On  arriving  at  St.  Michael's,  in 
Louisiana,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1843,  two  of  the  Sisters 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  417 

were  attaclved  by  the  )-ellow  fever.  Madame  Gallitzin,  like  a 
good  mother,  aUhough  actually  wasting  under  a  slow  fever 
aiirsL'd  them  herself,  and  yielding  to  the  violence  of  a  cruel  dis- 
ease, passed  on  the  8th  of  December  to  celebrate  with  Mary  tiie 
festival  of  her  Immaculate  Conception  in  union  with  that  Sacred 
Heart  of  which  she  had  been  so  devoted  an  adorer  and  servant 
on  earth. 

Her  singular  energy  of  character,  her  piety,  her  singular  ability 
in  conveying  instruction,  her  gay  and  affable  demeanor,  as  well 
as  her  solid  vhtues  and  extraordinary  gifts,  will  long  remain  en- 
graven on  the  hearts  of  her  Sisters. 

Madame  Bathilde  succeeded  her  at  New  York,  but  it  is  chiefly 
to  the  present  Superior,  Madame  Aloysia  Hardey,  that  the  com- 
munity owes  its  extension.  In  1844,  finding  the  city  too  con- 
fined, they  removed  to  Astoria;  but  that  locality  had  its  disad- 
vantages, and  in  1846  the  ladies  were  so  fortunate  as  to  acquire 
the  estate  of  the  late  Jacob  Lorillard,  at  Manhattanville,  where 
they  established  themselves  in  the  ensuing  year.  Since  then 
they  have  founded  a  new  convent  in  Seventeenth-street,  in  the 
city  itself,  and  houses  at  Albany  and  Buffalo,  of  which  we  shall 
speak  hereafter.  Their  efforts  in  the  cause  of  education  have 
been  most  successful,  and  the  number  of  candidates  shows  how 
easily  vocations  to  the  religious  or  ecclesiastical  state  might  be 
cultivated.  Their  labors  are  not  confined  to  the  direction  of  the 
elegant  academies  to  which  we  have  thus  far  alluded;  they 
almost  maintain  gratuitous  schools,  and  direct  one  of  the  largest 
parish  schools  in  the  city. 

The  bishop  had  thus  supplied  the  two  great  wants  under 
which  religion  had  so  long  suffered ;  the  other  necessities  now 
invited  his  attention.  The  number  of  French  and  German  Cath- 
dies  in  this  city  was  considerable,  and  churches  were  needed  for 
their  special  use.  Fortunately  at  this  moment  arrived  one  who 
relieved  the  bishoj)  of  one  of  these  difficulties,  and  reared  a  shrino 

18* 


4:18  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

for  tlie  exclusive  use  of  the  Catholics  of  France  in  the  city  of  Now 
York.  The  Germans  were  the  next  object  of  the  solicitude  oi 
the  Bishop  of  New  York.  We  have  seen  the  zeal  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  RaiFeiuer  in  erecting  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas;  in  1839  he 
also  reared  that  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  in  Thirtieth-street,  but 
difliculties  ensued,  and  the  bishop  sought  to  obtain  a  religious 
Order  who  would  accept  the  mission  and  devote  themselves  tc 
it.  He  applied  to  the  Kev.  Father  Alexander,  Superior  of  the 
Redemptorists  at  Baltimore,  who,  in  1842,  sent  Father  Gabriel 
Rumpler  to  take  charge  of  the  Church  of  St.  Nicholas ;  but  as 
the  trustees  would  not  cede  the  house  to  the  Order,  Father 
Rumpler  purchased  lots  in  Third-street,  where  the  Society  erect- 
ed a  convent  and  schools,  with  a  temporary  chapel,  replaced  in 
1853  by  that  noble  pile,  the  Church  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer, 
in  which  the  offices  of  religion  are  performed  with  a  pomp  and 
display  most  consoling  to  the  hearts  of  the  exiled  Germans. 

The  Redemptorists  of  New  York  have  also  erected  the  Church 
of  St.  Alphonsus  for  the  use  of  the  Germans  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  city,  and  have  another  house  in  Buffalo.  Although  devoted 
in  a  special  manner  to  the  use  of  the  German  Catholics,  they 
were,  through  the  excellent  Father  Rumpler,  instrumental  in 
bringing  into  the  Church  a  number  of  young  Episcopalian  semi- 
narians, whom  the  Tractarian  movement  had  led  to  the  study  of 
Cathohcity.  Of  these,  Mr.  Arthur  Carey  was  considered  the 
leader;  and  so  notorious  were  his  Catholic  views,  that  when 
the  Protestant  Bishop  Onderdonk  was  about  to  ordain  him.  two 
of  the  attendant  clei-gymen  protested  against  any  such  mockery 
as  ordaining  a  minister  of  their  body  one  vxho  held  that  the 
decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  were  binding.  Mr.  Carey  was 
ordained,  but  died  soon  after  in  Cuba,  without  having  embraced 
*he  truth  ;  for  one  link  had  been  wanting,  and  that  was  devotion 
to  Mary.  Many  of  the  other  seminarians  w^ere  now  removed  or 
retired,  but  their  course  was  not  clear  before  them.     One  of 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  419 

them  applied  to  Fatlier  Riimpler,  who,  learning  in  a  few  mo- 
mentf-  his  position,  showed  him  the  danger  in  which  he  stood, 
the  u-cessity  of  saving  his  soul,  and  the  further  necessity  of  using 
etibrts  for  that  end.  Others  now  sought  the  Redemptorist 
Father,  who,  after  instructing  them  in  tlieir  catechism,  received 
their  abjuration.  Anxious  to  devote  themselves  to  the  service 
of  God  in  his  Church,  several  of  them  sought  admission  into  the 
order,  and  proceeded  to  Belgium  to  perform  their  novitiate. 
After  their  ordination,  most,  if  not  all  of  these  Fathers,  have  re- 
turne  I  to  the  United  States ;  other  Americans  have  entered  the 
order  and  there  are  a  sufficient  number  to  give  missions,  after 
the  I  lanner  of  St.  Alphonsus  Liguori,  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.  The  most  eminent  of  these  zealous  clergymen  are 
Fathers  I.  T.  Hecker,  author  of  "  Questions  of  the  Soul,"  Father 
A.  Hewit,  translator  of  the  "Life  of  the  Princess  Borghese," 
Father  Walworth,  son  of  the  last  Chancellor  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  the  compiler  of  the  "  Mission  Book,"  and  Father  Deshon, 
late  a  captain  in  the  United  States  army.'^'  The  necessity  of  such 
missions  is  evident,  and  the  calls  on  the  Fathers  are  more  than 
they  can  meet ;  others  will,  however,  join  them,  and  Avith  the 
attention  thus  called  to  this  means  of  reviving  the  faith,  the  mis- 
sions of  the  Jesuits,  Lazarists,  and  other  orders  are  acquiring  a 
new  development. 

The  young  seminarians  of  whom  we  have  spoken  were  not  the 
only  converts  produced  by  the  celebrated  Oxford  or  Tractarian 
movement.  Some  account  of  this  is  therefore  needed  here.  A 
number  of  the  clergymen  and  professors  at  Oxford,  by  the  study 
of  the  Fathers,  became  convinced  that  the  Reformation  was  a 
fatal  error,  but  hoped  to  show  that  the  Anglican  Church  vrag 
still  a  part  of  the  Chui'ch  Catholic,  and  might  resume  much 

'•  Besides  those  now  Fathers  of  the  Order,  the  talented  editor  of  tho  Freo- 
Zian's  Journal,  the  Eev.  Mr.  Wudhams,  and  others,  were  amonjj  the  somi- 
t\ftria;.j. 


4:20  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

that  hr.d  been,  as  tliey  would  have  it,  not  rejected,  bnt  merely 
lost  sight  of  in  times  of  trouble.  The  antiquity  of  the  Masa 
was  evident,  with  its  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  ;  the  power 
in  the  Church  of  forgiving  sins  no  less  so.  A  host  of  otlier  Cath- 
olic dogmas  were  in  the  same  position.  To  prepare  the  public 
mind  to  resume  these  points,  and  to  cut  off  Anglicanism  from 
all  connection  with  the  continental  reformers,  these  Oxford  di- 
vines began,  in  1833,  to  issue  a  series  of  tracts,  and  at  the  same 
time  published  many  devotional  works  drawn  from  Catholic 
sources,  with  translations  of  our  ascetical  works,  and  lastly,  a 
most  beautiful  series  of  lives  of  the  early  English  Saints.  At 
the  same  time,  they  attempted  to  restore  the  monastic  orders  and 
Catholic  asceticism. 

Their  publications  excited  great  attention  both  in  England  and 
this  country,  from  the  singular  ability  of  the  writers,  among 
whom  were  Dr.  Pusey,  Professor  of  Hebrew,  Keble,  Faber,  New- 
man, Froude,  Dalgairns,  Oakley,  and  Ward ;  and  in  all  parts  a 
party  arose,  which  were  often  styled  Puseyites,  from  the  apparent 
leader  of  the  movement.  The  series  of  tracts  went  on  till  the 
ninetieth  appeared,  in  1841,  which  was  an  attempt  to  show  that 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  properly  understood,  were  not  at  vari- 
ance with  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  that  they 
were  no  bar  to  a  union  with  Rome.  So  strange  a  theory  roused 
a  storm  of  discussion  ;  the  tracts  were  stopped,  pamphlet  after 
pamphlet  appeared  on  the  question.*  In  fact,  the  culminating 
point  had  arrived,  and  the  Oxford  divines  were  compelled  to 
forego  their  ground,  and  become  Protestants,  to  remain  Angli- 
can, or  submit  to  the  Holy  See,  in  order  to  be  really  Catholic. 
In  consequence,  many  clergymen  who  had  embraced  their  views, 
became  Catholics  in  the  following  years,  and  in  1845  the  Rev. 
John  Henry  Newman,  the  leader  of  the  movement,  and  author 

*  Cardinal  Wiseman's  Essays,  ii.  265. 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  421 

of  the  celebrated  tract,  with  the  Rev.  William  George  AVard, 
author  of  the  "  Ideal  of  a  Christian  Church,"  Rev.  Frederick 
Oakley,  Rev.  Robert  A.  Cofiin,  and  Rev.  Frederick  W.  Faber, 
authors  of  many  of  the  Lives  of  the  English  Saints,  and  the  last 
a  most  beautiful  and  accomplished  poet,  were  received  into  the 
C.'itholic  Church.  Every  mail  brought  to  America  the  names  of 
new  converts  among  the  clergy,  and  lists  of  eminent  laymen 
who  followed  their  teachers.  In  this  wonderful  season  of  God's 
gi-ace  and  mercy  in  England,  some  thousands  were  won  to  the 
faith.  As  the  Metropolitan  of  Halifax  well  observed,  "  Innu- 
merable souls,  which  had  long  flitted  over  the  deluge  of  unbelief, 
have  happily  returned  to  the  Ark  of  rest.  The  tempest-tost,  who 
were  '  carried  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,'  have  at  length 
found  the  divine  security  of  Peter's  bark.  Egypt  has  been  de- 
spoiled, and  the  People  of  God  are  enriched  with  the  most  valu- 
able treasures.  Their  great  champions  and  noblest  ornaments 
we  have  made  captives  of  faith,  and  docile  members  of  God's 
Holy  Church.  Their  most  learned  doctors,  with  all  the  edifying 
simplicity  of  httle  children  in  Christ,  have  descended  from  their 
chairs,  and,  seated  at  His  feet,  have  begun  to  learn  the  very  rudi- 
ments of  the  science  of  salvation,  in  His  school  of  humility  and 
meekness.  And  these  marvellous  changes,  these  magnificent  in- 
tellectual triumphs,  have  been  achieved  by  sound  ai'guments  from 
reason  and  Scripture,  aided  by  divine  grace  ;  most  certainly  not 
by  bribes,  coercion,  or  any  species  of  physical  force.  And  it  is 
not  alone  the  poor,  the  lowly,  the  simple,  the  untitled  and  ob- 
scure :  no ;  but  the  rich,  the  noble,  the  learned,  the  y  ious,  the 
truly  honest,  have  been  converted  ;  men  whose  great  jacrifices 
are  the  surest  test  of  the  depth  of  their  convictions,  and  the  un- 
impeachable sincerity  of  their  moti^es."* 

With   the   progress    of   the   mo\ement  in   England,   that  ir. 

*  Most  Kcv.  William  Walsh,  Pastoral  for  Lent,  185:. 


4:22  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

America  k  jpt  pace.  The  Tractarian  ideas  found  a  warm  advo- 
cate in  the  llight  Rev.  L.  S.  Ives,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop 
of  North  Carolina,  and  more  moderate  ones  in  the  two  Onder- 
donks,  Bishops  respectively  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  but 
a  sturdy  opponent  in  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  of  Ohio,  who  published 
a  large  octavo  work  to  refute  the  Catholic  ideas  put  forward  by 
the  Oxford  divines.  They  found  a  defender  in  Van  Brugh  Liv- 
ingston, Esq.,  a  layman  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  who,  in  a  work 
on  Oxford  divinity,  maintained  their  opinions. 

In  all  parts  of  the  country,  clergymen  began  to  introduce  the 
Oxford  ideas  ;  and  Bishop  Ives  founded  the  Brotherhood  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  one  community  of  which  was  at  Valley  Crucis,  a 
wild  and  beautiful  spot  in  Ashe  county,  in  the  northwest  corner 
of  North  Carolina.  Here,  in  a  most  neglected  part  of  the  coun- 
try, a  few  clergymen  and  devout  laymen  observed  a  community 
life,  laboring  for  their  own  sanctification,  and,  by  preaching  and 
visits  to  the  surrounding  country,  endeavoring  to  contribute  to 
the  salvation  of  souls.  In  other  parts,  clergymen  exhorted  to 
confession,  and  endeavored  to  restore  the  sacrament  of  pen- 
ance. 

Such  matters  soon  excited  the  attention  of  the  Conventions, 
bodies  part  clerical,  part  lay,  which  rule  each  diocese  in  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States.  The  Bishop  of  Phila- 
delphia resigned;  his  brother  in  New  York  was  tried  on  a 
charge  of  improper  conduct,  and  suspended  from  the  adminis- 
tration of  his  diocese  ;  the  Bishop  of  North  Carolina  was  ar- 
raigned, but  his  explanations  for  a  time  appeased  his  opponents, 
although  the  Brotherhood  was  dissolved.*  When,  however, 
Mr.  Newman  and  the  other  leaders  actually  abjured  Protestant- 
isn,  their  example  was  followed  in  America ;  and  a  still  in- 
creasing number  of  Episcopal   clergymen  have   embraced  the 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATUS.  4.23 

faitli :  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  the  Rev.  William  Tl. 
Iloyt,  a  deacon  in  Vermont ;  the  Rev.  F.  A.  Baker,  of  Baltimore  ; 
the  Rev.  J.  Murray  Forbes,  and  his  assistants,  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
William  Everett,  Donald  McLeod,  and  Thomas  Preston ;  the  Rev 
Ferdinand  White,  Rev.  J.  V.  Huntington,  Rev.  Mr.  Wadhams,  Rev. 
Mr.  Wheaton,  all  in  New  York ;  Rev.  Mr.  Major,  in  Philadelphia ; 
and  lastly.  Dr.  Ives,  the  Bishop  of  North  Carolina,  whose  long 
hesitation  was  compensated  by  his  noble  submission,  by  which, 
as  he  justly  remarks,  he  "  abandoned  a  position  in  which  he  had 
acted  as  a  minister  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  and  as  a  bishop  of  the  same  for  more  than 
twenty,  and  songht  late  in  life  admission  as  a  layman  into  the 
Holy  Catholic  Church,  wath  no  prospect  before  him,  but  sim- 
ply peace  of  conscience  and  the  salvation  of  his  soul."  The 
greatness  of  the  sacrifice  which  he  was  called  upon  to  make  may 
well  be  conceived,  and  we  cannot  but  bless  the  Almighty  for  the 
abundance  of  the  grace  which  enables  those  whom  He  called  to 
triumph  over  every  human  consideration,  and  early  prejudice. 
Dr.  Ives  proceeded  to  Rome  in  1853,  and  having  been  received 
into  the  Church,  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  Holy  Father  the  insignia 
of  his  episcopal  rank.  Such  was  the  Tractarian  movement,  which 
has  given  to  the  Church  in  England  and  America  some  of  the 
noblest  of  its  clergy,  and  most  talented  of  its  writers.*  We 
must,  however,  return  to  the  diocese  of  New  York,  and  its 
progress. 

The  German  Catholics  had  been  provided  for  by  the  zeal  oi 
the  Redemptorists ;  but  the  French  were  still  without  a  church 
for  their  special  use.  We  have  elsewhere  spoken  of  the  mis- 
sions preached  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  by  the  Bishop 
of  Nancy,  Monseigneur  de  Forbin  Janson.  His  first  apostolic 
labors  were  devoted  to  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana  and  Canada  : 


*  Ives,  Trials  of  a  Mind,  p.  11. 


424  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

but  on  his  arrival  at  New  York,  in  February,  1841,  tlie  prelate 
opened  a  spiritual  retreat  in  St.  Peter's  Cliurob,  and  in  a  sermon 
on  the  lOtb  of  April,  proposed  to  the  French  residents  of  New 
York  the  erection  of  a  church,  to  be  attended  by  priests  of  their 
own  tongue.  "  In  this  great  city,"  said  he, ''  where  the  Irish  and 
German  Catholics  have  recoiled  from  no  sacrifice  to  have  their 
own  churches  and  priests,  how  is  it  that  the  French,  so  famous 
for  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  alone  remain  indifferent  ?  They 
are  wanting  both  to  the  high  interest  of  their  salvation,  and  to 
those  of  their  nationality.  How,  in  fact,  can  this  nationahty  be 
long  preserved  in  a  foreign  land,  without  the  powerful  bond  of 
religion  ?  This  church,"  he  concluded,  "  is  ardently  desired  by 
Bishop  Hughes,  the  holy  and  talented  administrator  of  the  dio- 
cese, for  which  he  expects  great  benefits  from  it.  What  a  pow- 
erful recommendation  !" 

It  is  certain  that  at  this  time  a  part  of  the  French  residents 
of  New  York  lived  in  great  religious  indifference.  They  might, 
indeed,  have  frequented  the  various  Catholic  churches  which  the 
city  possessed,  but  the  dread  of  an  English  sermon  was  a  sufficient 
pretext  for  many  to  remain  away  from  the  offices  of  the  Church. 
There  exists  in  the  city  a  Protestant  church  founded  by  Hugue- 
not refugees  in  1*704,  nineteen  years  after  the  revocation  of  the 
edict  of  Nantes.  The  pastor  of  this  had  profited  by  the  apathy 
of  some  of  his  countrymen,  to  draw  them  to  his  church,  where 
they  were  charmed  to  hear  French  spoken.  He  performed  their 
marriages,  baptized  their  children,  so  that  ere  long  families  oii- 
giually  Catholic  became  insensibly  Protestant,  in  order  to  remain 
French.  It  was  therefore  highly  necessary  to  give  a  church  to 
a  population  menaced  with  a  loss  of  faith.  The  manly  eloquence 
of  the  Bifthop  of  Nancy  had  drawn  crowds  of  French  around 
his  pulpit ;  his  appeal  aroused  his  hearers,  and  the  next  day  a 
large  meeting  of  the  French  resolved  upon  the  erection  of  a 
chui'ch,  appointiiig  a  committee  to  receive  subscriptions.     The 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  425 

committee  soon  purchased  the  site  of  the  Church  of  the  Annun- 
ciation, a  Protestant  church  then  recently  destroyed  by  fire,  and 
on  the  11th  of  October,  1841,  the  Consul-general  of  France,  Mr. 
de  la  Foret,  laid  the  corner-stone. 

The  generous  Bishop  of  Nancy  did  more  than  support,  by  his 
eloquence,  the  work  which  he  had  inspired  :  he  lent  six  thou- 
sand dollars  to  aid  in  constructing  the  church,  and  subsequently 
bestowed  the  principal  on  the  diocese.  The  Association  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Faith  has  several  times  made  important  do- 
nations, and  by  these  different  resources  the  French  church  was 
erected.  Since  1842,  the  Rev.  Annet  Lafont  has  been  the  zeal- 
ous pastor.  He  belongs  to  the  Institute  of  the  Fathers  of 
Mercy,  of  which  the  founder  in  France  was  Father  Rau- 
zan;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  church  will  still  be 
confided  to  some  zealous  congregation,  if  the  will  of  His 
Holiness  remove  Mr.  Lafont  from  the  theatre  of  his  labors. 
If  this  church  owes  much  to  the  Association  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Faith,  it  now  contributes  to  the  common  work  of  the  mis- 
sions, and  for  several  years  the  French  Catholics  have  responded 
to  the  appeals  of  the  American  bishops  in  favor  of  the  work. 
St.  Vincent's  Church  is  the  organ  of  communication  of  some  of 
the  other  churches  also;  and  we  find  that  in  1855,  with  the 
churches  of  St.  Peter  and  the  Nativity,  it  remitted  over  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  to  the  General  Council  of  the  Association.*  In 
order  to  make  the  society  known,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lafont  delivers 
an  English  sermon  on  the  feast  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  which  is 
attended  by  thousands,  and  is  always  followed  by  the  formation 
of  new  decades.  Ere  long,  we  trust  that  none  of  the  churches 
in  the  large  cities  will  forbear  to  join  in  this  movement,  and,  by 
forming  decades  of  members  of  the  Association,  help  to  swell 


♦  Proceedings  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Cliurch  of  St.  Vincent  do 
Paul. 


426  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

by  their  alms  a  treasury  -wliicli  lias  given  so  mucli  to  the  strug- 
gling missions  of  the  United  States. 

This  is  not  the  only  work  in  which  the  French  Church  is  in- 
terested, and  which  has  been  established  by  the  zeal  of  its  pastor. 
To  him  New  York  is  indebted  for  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian 
Schools,  whom  he  introduced  to  direct  his  male  parish  school, 
and  who  have  since  extended  so  rapidly.  The  church  has  also  a 
free  school,  where  eighty  girls  receive  an  excellent  education, 
and  the  Ladies'  Benevolent  Association  annually  raises  the  funds 
necessary  for  its  support.  Like  the  similar  association  in  the 
other  churches,  these  ladies  also  visit  the  sick  and  relieve  the 
poor ;  but  none  equals  in  zeal  and  extent  of  its  labors  that  under 
the  patronage  of  the  apostle  of  charity. 

The  Church  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  is  also  the  rendezvous  of 
the  missionaries  and  sisters  of  various  orders  arriving  fi-om  France, 
invited  by  our  bishops,  and  who  are  overjoyed  to  find  a  priest  of 
their  own  land  to  guide  and  direct  them  in  a  country  where  all  is 
new  and  strange.  Father  Lafont  receives  his  fellow-missionaries 
with  the  most  cordial  hospitality,  and  takes  every  pains  to  serve 
them ;  but  his  rectory  is  more  confined  than  his  generosity,  and 
this  leads  us  to  remaik,  that,  considering  the  numbers  of  priests 
and  sisters  who  arrive  at  New  York  from  L'eland,  France,  Ger- 
many, and  Italy,  on  their  way  to  various  parts  of  Canada  and 
the  United  States,  one  of  the  greatest  wants  is  a  good  hotel  kept 
by  a  Catholic,  where  French  and  German  should  be  spoken. 
Such  a  hotel,  approved  by  the  episcopacy  of  the  United  States, 
might  welcome  these  pious  immigrants  on  their  arrival  from  Eu- 
rope, pass  their  baggage  from  the  Custom-house,  give  them  infor- 
mation as  to  the  city  and  country,  and  put  them  on  their  route 
to  their  different  destinations.  In  this,  the  modesty  of  religious 
women  consecrated  to  God  would  be  spared  many  affronts ;  their 
poverty,  heavy  expenses ;  their  confidence,  much  imposition.  Aa 
it  is,  these  good  sisters  are  often  abandoned  on  a  wharf,  amid  an 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  427 

indifferent  or  scornful  crowd,  then  bewildered  by  the  vulgar  run- 
ners, who  seek  to  lead  them  to  low  houses,  or  to  sell  them  spu- 
rious tickets.  For  many,  the  first  hours  in  America  are  a  mar- 
tyrdom, such  as  they  had  never  painted  to  themselves  in  their 
most  fervent  contemplations. 

The  example  set  by  the  French  in  New  York  has  been  imita- 
ted in  other  parts  of  the  State  and  in  Vermont,  so  that  many  of 
the  cities  now  possess  churches,  where  the  Catholic  of  France 
may  hear  in  his  own  tongue  the  religious  instruction  to  which  he 
has  been  accustomed. 

The  Bishop  of  New  York,  having  accomplished  so  much  for 
the  well-being  of  his  diocese,  issued,  on  the  28th  of  July,  1842, 
a  circular  letter  convoking  a  diocesan  synod,  and  after  a  spiritual 
retreat  at  St.  John's  College,  the  clergy  of  the  diocese  of  New 
Fork  met  for  the  first  time  in  synod,  at  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral, 
on  Sunday,  the  28th  of  August.  "  During  the  session,  twenty- 
three  decrees  w^ere  put  forward  in  regard  to  various  matters  of 
discipline,  and  the  administration  of  the  sacraments ;  many  prac- 
tices, such  as  the  baptism  of  infants  in  private  houses,  and  others 
of  a  similar  nature,  which  had  been  permitted  on  account  of  the 
exigencies  of  the  times,  were  entirely  forbidden.  The  most  strict 
and  salutary  regulations  were  made  in  regard  to  secret  societies, 
and  the  manner  of  holding  and  administering  ecclesiastical  prop- 
erty." At  the  close  of  the  synod,  the  bishop,  in  a  pastoral  let- 
ter, communicated  to  the  people  the  result  of  their  deliberations 
and  enforced  the  regulations.  Following  this  up,  he  subsequently 
irGued  a  series  of  "Rules  for  the  Administration  of  Churches  v/ith- 
out  Trustees,"  under  which  the  property  of  the  Church  in  the  dio- 
cese has  been  most  advantageously  managed,  notwithstanding  at- 
tempts on  the  part  of  the  State  government  to  create  such  confu- 
sion as  would  lead  to  its  being  sacrificed.* 

*  Bishop  Bayley,  Sketch  of  tlie  Catliolic  Church,  116-18. 


428  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

The  extent  of  tlie  diocese  made  it  almost  impossible  for  tlie 
bishop  to  give  his  superintendence  to  all  the  rising  churches  and 
institutions.  He  solicited  a  coadjutor,  and  the  Rev.  John  McClos- 
key,  who  had,  as  we  have  seen,  been  the  first  President  of  St. 
John's  College,  and  was  at  the  time  Pastor  of  St.  Joseph's  Church, 
was,  in  1844,  appointed  Bishop  of  Axiern,  and  Coadjutor  of  New 
York.  Two  other  of  the  clergy  of  New  York  were  at  the  same 
time  raised  to  the  episcopal  dignity — the  Rev.  William  Quarter, 
long  Pastor  of  St.  Mary's,  as  Bishop  of  Chicago,  and  the  Rev. 
Andrew  Byrne,  Pastor  of  St.  Andrew's,  as  Bishop  of  Little  Rock. 
The  three  prelates  w^ere  consecrated  on  the  10th  of  March,  1844, 
by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Hughes,  assisted  by  the  Bishops  of 
Boston  and  Richmond.  Bishop  McCloskey  at  once  entered  on 
his  duties,  and  joined  with  his  diocesan  in  all  his  plans  for  the 
good  of  the  faithful.  The  eminent  prelate  himself  was  at  this 
time  assailed  by  all  the  fanaticism  which  the  periodical  anti- 
Catholic  fever  could  evoke ;  but  while  all  was  in  desolation  at 
Philadelphia,  the  Bishop  of  New  York,  in  a  letter  to  the  Mayor 
*'  On  the  moral  causes  which  had  produced  the  evil  spirit  of  the 
times,"  set  the  Catholic  body,  and  himself  as  their  pastor,  so  truly 
and  fairly  before  the  public,  that  all  unanimously  condemned  their 
assailants.  A  striking  proof  of  the  respect  entertained  for  the  up- 
rightness and  ability  of  the  illustrious  Archbishop  of  New  York  is 
found  in  the  iiict,  that  when  the  war  with  Mexico  began  to  be 
imminent,  the  Cabinet  at  Washington  actually  solicited  him  to 
accept  the  embassy  to  Mexico,  which  the  duties  of  his  diocese, 
and  a  feeling  that  the  exigency  of  the  case  did  not  call  him  to 
public  life,  compelled  him  to  decline.  Yet,  had  he  been  sent, 
there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  his  character  and  position 
would  have  enabled  him  so  to  arrange  existing  difficulties  as  to 
save  both  countries  from  a  desolating  war.  No  aspirant  to  po- 
litical honors,  he  would  have  been  but  too  happy  to  sacrifice 
private  convenience  to  the  public  good ;  and  so  far  was  he  frora 


IN"  THE   UNITED   STATES.  429 

seeking,  that  he  declined  a  high  position,  for  which  he  deemed 
so  many  better  fitted  than  himself.* 

The  interest  which  Catholicity  takes  in  the  country,  and  its  at- 
tachment to  it,  is  evinced  in  its  many  benevolent  institutions ; 
and  to  refute  the  caluninies  of  its  accusers,  the  bishop  added  one 
more  to  the  many  with  which  he  had  endowed  his  diocese.  In 
December,  1845,  he  proceeded  to  Europe,  to  procure,  if  possible, 
Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools, 
and  Sisters  of  Mercy.  In  both  his  applications  he  was  success- 
ful, and  returning  in  the  spring,  prepared  a  house  for  the  Sisters, 
who  arrived  on  the  15th  of  May,  1846.  The  object  for  which, 
especially,  the  devoted  pastor  wished  to  secure  them,  was  to  es- 
tablish a  house  in  which  young  Catholic  women,  when  out  of 
employment,  might  find  a  temporary  refuge,  where  their  inno- 
cence would  be  out  of  danger.  The  Church  had  constantly  to 
mourn  over  the  fall  of  many  who,  in  these  moments,  were  drawn 
to  places  where,  losing  virtue,  they  entered  a  headlong  course  of 
misery.  The  House  of  Protection  has  been  of  incalculable  ser- 
vice, and  furnishes  not  only  a  shelter  to  innocence,  but  enables 
families  to  obtain  excellent  servants ;  for  during  their  stay,  the 
Sisters  instruct  them  in  the  various  departments  for  which  they 
are  competent.  Nor  is  this  the  only  work  of  these  good  reli- 
gious :  they  conduct  a  poor  school  for  girls,  visit  the  poor  and 
sick,  and  regularly  attend  at  the  New  York  City  Prison,  the  no- 
torious Tombs,  where  they  instruct  the  unfortunate  women  de- 
tained there,  and  use  every  endeavor  to  draw  them  to  a  life  of 
virtue.  Criminals  condemned  to  death  are  also  objects  of  their 
peculiar  care,  and  that  care  has  been  rewarded  by  most  extraor- , 
dinary  and  consoling  conversions.  The  community  of  Sisters  of 
Mercy  has  extended  to  other  cities,  as  we  have  before  stated.f 

*  Maury,  Statesmen  of  America,  248. 

t  Villanis,   Cenni    Istorici    del    Progreso  del  Cattolicisnio    negli    Stati 
Uniti,  39. 


430  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

The  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools  arrived  in  October,  but 
as  affairs  were  not  satisfactorily  arranged,  their  establishment  was 
for  a  time  abandoned. 

In  seeking  to  recall  the  Society  of  Jesus  to  New  York,  the 
bishop  wished  especially  to  confide  to  their  care  the  College  of 
St.  John,  which  he  had  so  firmly  established,  and  which  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State  incorporated  on  the  10th  of  April,  1846, 
chiefly  through  the  exertion  of  Hon.  George  Folsom,  a  gentleman 
of  literary  acquirements,  who,  though  elected  by  the  Anti-Catho- 
hc,  would  not  stoop  to  any  bigoted  harassing  of  the  Catholics, 
such  as  has  disgraced  Massachusetts  with  regard  to  the  College 
of  the  Holy  Cross. 

The  Jesuits  of  the  Province  of  Paris,  who  had,  in  June,  1831, 
begun  a  mission  of  their  order  in  the  diocese  of  BarJstown,  at 
the  instance  of  the  sainted  Bishop  Flaget,  for  many  years 
directed  St.  Mary's  College,  in  Kentucky,  and  began  a  college 
and  church  in  Louisville.*  DiflSculties,  however,  compelled  them 
to  withdraw  from  the  diocese;  and  as,  in  1842,  other  Fathers  of 
their  province,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Father  Chazelle,  the  Su- 
perior of  the  mission  in  Kentucky,  had  founded  a  house  in  Mon- 
treal, and  subsequently  others  in  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  those  of 
Kentucky  sought  to  approach  these,  and  in  consequence  of  the 
application  of  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Hughes,  removed  to  the 
diocese  of  New  York,  and  assumed  the  charge  of  the  College  of 
St.  John.  Father  Chazelle,  the  Superior  since  the  foundation  of 
the  mission,  died  at  Green  Bay  in  1845,  while  visiting  the  West- 
ern missions,  and  the  Rev.  Clement  Boulauger  was  appointed 
Superior,  and  remained  such  till  the  year  1855. 

The  direction  of  the  college  and  of  the  seminary,  which  was 
confided  to  their  care,  did  not  satisfy  the  zeal  of  the  Fathers : 
they  sought  to  establish  a  church  and  college  in  the  city  :tself ; 

*  Bishop  Spalding,  Life  of  Bishop  Flaget,  270,  301. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  431 

and  in  1847,  Father  John  Larkiu  having  acquired  a  church  for- 
merly belonging  to  a  Protestant  congregation,  opened  it  under 
the  title  of  the  Most  Holy  Name  of  Jesus,  and  established  in 
connection  with  it  an  academy,  the  nucleus  of  a  future  college. 
Scarcely,  however,  had  the  whole  been  successfully  organized, 
when  a  conflao-ration,  the  result  of  an  accident,  laid  the  buildino; 
in  ashes.  The  Fathers  immediately  transferred  their  academy 
to  the  basement  of  St.  James  Church,  and  subsequently  to  a 
house  in  the  Third  Avenue  ;  but  having,  in  1850,  under  Father 
John  Ryan,  purchased  a  site  on  Fifteenth-street,  they  began  the 
erection  of  a  college,  and  with  it  of  the  new  Church  of  St. 
Francis  Xavier.*  The  college  was  completed  in  the  summer 
of  1850,  and  the  Fathers  entered  it  with  their  pupils  in  September. 
Its  plan  of  study  is  the  same  as  that  at  St.  John's,  embracing  a 
full  college  course,  with  the  usual  preparatory  classes ;  and  its 
pupils  are  usually  about  two  hundred  in  number. 

Besides  these  two  houses,  the  Fathers  have  in  the  State  a 
church  at  West  Troy,  and  another  at  Buffalo,  in  all  of  which 
they  labor  in  the  various  objects  of  their  institute.  This  mission 
numbers  in  the  vaiious  dioceses  of  New  York  and  Canada  thirty- 
six  Fathers  and  twenty  scholastics. 

While  the  Bishop  of  New  York  was  thus  increasing  the 
means  of  saving  souls,  he  was  almost  deprived  of  the  oldest  re- 
ligious body  laboring  among  his  flock.  The  Sisters  of  Charity 
at  Emmetsburg  had  long  opposed  the  employment  of  members  of 
their  order  in  male  orphan  asylums,  and  finally  ordered  the  Sisters  at 
New  York  to  resign  the  care  of  those  which  they  had  so  long  direct- 
ed. In  consequence  of  representations  made,  the  Very  Rev.  Superior 
of  the  Sisters  addressed  a  circular  to  those  in  New  York,  author- 
izing all  who  chose,  to  remain,  and  organize  as  a  separate  body. 


*  Bishop  Bayloy,  Sketch  of  the  Catholic  Church  on  the  Island  of  New 
York,  p.  128. 


4:32  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Of  the  fifty  Sisters  at  that  time  in  the  diocese,  thirty-one  reniain- 
ed ;  and  on  the  8th  of  December,  1846,  the  feast  of  the  Immac- 
ulate Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
Hughes  constituted  the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  this  diocese  a  local 
community,  under  the  title  of  Sisters  of  Charity  of  St.  Vincent 
of  Paul — the  Sisters  adhering  to  the  original  constitutions,  rules, 
dress,  and  customs  of  the  order,  as  founded  by  Mother  Seton. 
Since  the  Sisters  of  Emmetsburg  have  adopted  the  French  dress 
and  rules,  those  of  New  York  now  represent  the  Society  as 
founded  by  Mother  Seton.  To  add  to  their  consolation,  the 
Holy  Father  has  approved  their  organization,  and  granted  them 
all  the  faculties  and  privileges  enjoyed  by  those  at  Emmets- 
burg. 

The  mother-house  of  this  body  was  fixed  at  Mount  St.  Vin- 
cent, a  delightful  spot  near  Harlem,  where  the  Sisters  speedily 
opened  an  academy,  which  has  proved  most  beneficial  to  the 
city,  by  the  excellent  education  which  it  affords.  They  soon  after 
(in  1849)  established  in  the  city  itself  St.  Vincent's  Hospital,  which 
in  one  year  accommodated  nearly  a  thousand  patients.  Be- 
sides these  institutions,  they  direct  six  orphan  asylums,  and  a 
great  number  of  free  schools.  The  missionary  establishments  in 
the  States  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  dependent  on  Mount 
St.  Vincent  number  twelve ;  besides  which,  there  is  one  in  the 
province  of  Nova  Scotia.* 

Such  was  the  state  of  Catholicity  when,  in  1847,  the  Holy 
See,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  prelate,  divided  his  extensive  dio- 
cese, and  committed  the  See  of  Albany  to  his  able  coadjutor, 
Bishop  McCloskey,  and  appointing  to  the  new  See  of  Bufi'alo  the 
Rev.  John  Timon,  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Missions,  who  was 
consecrated  on  the   l7th  of  October,  184*7,  in  the  Cathedral 


*  Heroines  of  Charity  (American  ed.),  p-  220.     Villanii,  Cenni  Istoriisi 
del  Progreso  del  Cattolicismo  negli  Stati  Uniti,  p.  40. 


MOST   REV    JOHN  HUGHES,  D.D., 

Fir:tt  ArchtL^wp  of  Xeiv  York. 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  433 

Church  of  St.  Patrick.  By  this  division  of  the  State,  the  Bishop 
of  New  York  retained  as  his  diocese  the  city  of  New  York,  with 
all  the  counties  south  of  the  forty-second  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude, and  the  portion  of  New  Jersey  previously  dependent  on  his 
See.  While  the  newly  appointed  prelates  proceeded  to  organize 
the  dioceses  to  which  they  had  been  called,  he  devoted  himself 
with  greater  zeal  than  ever  to  the  improvement  of  the  less  exten- 
sive district  confided  to  his  care. 

We  have  seen  how  earnestly  he  had  endeavored  to  plant 
in  his  diocese  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  and  how 
unsuccessful  his  effort  proved.  Scarcely,  however,  had  the  di- 
vision of  the  diocese  been  effected,  when  he  was  consoled  by 
seeing  them  permanently  introduced  by  the  zeal  and  persever- 
ance of  the  Rev.  Annet  Lafont,  who,  overcoming  the  obstacles 
previously  raised,  established  this  excellent  order  firmly  at  New 
York.  In  1848  four  Brothers  commenced  a  house  near  the 
Church  of  St.  Vincent  of  Paul,  in  Canal-street,  where  they  had 
charge  of  three  classes  and  an  attendance  of  two  hundred  pupils. 
So  successfully  did  the  Brothers .  conduct  this  school  that' its 
numbers  soon  augmented,  and  in  spite  of  their  scanty  accommo- 
dations they  were  obliged  to  yield  to  the  general  wish,  and 
opened  a  select  boarding-school.  Other  churches  solicited  mem- 
bers to  direct  their  parish-schools,  and  they  soon  had  under  their 
charge  those  of  the  Cathedral,  and  of  St.  Mary's,  St.  Stephen's, 
St.  Joseph's,  and  of  St.  Francis  Xavier's,  and  even  of  some  in 
Brooklyn.  Anxious  to  place  them  on  a  firm  footing,  the  Most 
Reverend  Archbishop  encouraged  them  to  open  an  academy 
near  the  city,  to  be  in  a  manner  the  mother-house.  The  Acad- 
emy of  the  Holy  InHmcy,  near  Manhattanville,  put  in  operation 
in  1853,  owes  its  existence  to  his  devotedness,  and  crowns  the 
labors  of  the  order.  Here  young  lads,  not  intended  for  college, 
are  trained  to  virtue  and  the  ordinary  branches  of  an  English 
tourse — the  necessity  of  such  an  institution  being  a  great  want 

19 


43  J:  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

near  a  large  commercial  city,  where  many  parents  &eek  to  fit 
their  sons  for  commercial  and  not  for  professional  pursuits. 
The  Brothers  also  direct  a  select  academy  in  the  city,  and  in 
all  their  establishments  count  nearly  two  thousand  pupils — the 
number  of  Brothers  being  thirty-three.* 

From  the  commencement  of  his  administration  the  zealous 
bishop  had  constantly  multiplied  the  number  of  churches  around 
him,  and  freeing  the  older  from  debt,  enabled  them  to  erect 
school-houses  and  meet  other  parochial  wants.  In  1850  the  city 
of  Xew  York  alone  contained  nineteen  churches,  and  the  rest  of 
the  diocese  forty-seven,  being  twenty  more  than  the  whole  State 
contained  at  the  time  of  his  appointment.  So  important  had 
New  York  become  that  the  Holy  Father,  by  his  brief  of  October 
3d,  1850,  erected  it  into  an  archiepiscopal  See,  with  the  Sees  of 
Boston,  Hartford,  Albany,  and  Buffalo  as  suffragans.  The  Most 
Reverend  Archbishop  soon  after  proceeded  to  Rome  and  received 
the  pallium  from  the  hands  of  the  Holy  Father.f 

In  a  short  time  a  new  division  was  proposed,  to  lighten  still 
more  the  burden  attached  to  the  See  of  New  York.  Part  of 
New  Jersey  depended  on  it  and  part  on  the  See  of  Philadelphia. 
The  Holy  See  deemed  it  now  for  the  interest  of  religion  to  unite 
the  whole  State  of  New  Jersey  under  a  bishop  whose  See  was 
fixed  at  Newark,  and  appointed  as  the  first  bishop,  the  Rev.  James 
Roosevelt  Bayley,  then  secretary  of  the  archbishop.  The  city  of 
Brooklyn,  which  had  become  one  of  the  largest  in  America,  was 
also  made  a  See,  and  conferred  on  the  Very  Rev.  John  Loughlin, 
vicar-general  of  the  diocese.  The  two  prelates  were  consecrated 
in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  with  the  Rev.  Louis  de  Goesbriand, 
Bishop-elect  of  Burhngton,  by  the  Most  Rev.  Cajetan  Bedini,  pro- 
nuncio  of  His  Hohness,  on  the  30th  of  October,  1853. 

*  Sketch  of  the  Christian  Brothers  in  Catholic  Herald,  January  IJJ,  1856. 
U;  S.  Catholic  Almanac,  1848-1856. 
t  Bayley,  Sketch  of  the  Catholic  Church,  p.  127. 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  435 

As  these  Sees  were  also  in  tlie  province  of  New  York,  these 
prelates  attended  in  the  ensuing  year  the  first  Provincial  Council 
of  New  York,  which  was  opened  on  Sunday,  the  1st  of  October, 
1854,  and  closed  on  the  following  Sunday.  The  Fathers  of  the 
Council  were  the  Most  Rev.  John  Hughes,  Archbishop  of  New 
York,  presiding ;  the  Kt.  Rev.  John  M'Closkey,  Bishop  of  Albany ; 
the  Rt.  Rev.  John  B.  Fitzpatrick,  Bishop  of  Boston ;  the  Rt.  Rev. 
John  Timon,  Bishop  of  Buffalo ;  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bernard  O'Reilly, 
Bishop  of  Hartford;  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  Loughlin,  Bishop  of 
Brooklyn  ;  the  Rt.  Rev,  James  R.  Bayley,  Bishop  of  Newark ; 
and  Rt.  Rev.  Louis  de  Goesbriand,  Bishop  of  Burlington.  Six 
decrees  were  passed,  expressing  their  devotion  to  the  Holy  See, 
confirming  and  renewing  the  decrees  of  the  Councils  of  Balti- 
more. Besides  these  they  made  new  and  stringent  regulations 
as  to  church  debts,  urged  on  all  the  clergy  the  importance  of  the 
education  of  the  younger  portion  of  their  flocks,  and  regulated 
the  exercise  of  the  ministry  by  clergy  in  other  dioceses  than 
those  for  which  they  had  obtained  faculties.* 

The  meeting  of  the  prelates,  moreover,  enabled  them  to  de- 
cide on  many  points  of  discipline  of  which  the  enforcement  had 
been  delayed,  and  it  was  among  other  things  resolved  to  enforce 
the  publication  of  banns,  and  to  use  every  effort  to  establish  the 
Association  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith  in  their  respective 
dioceses.  The  pastoral  letters  issued  by  the  Fathers  of  the 
Council  on  the  8th  of  October,  announced  this  determination, 
and  after  reviewing  the  position  in  which  Catholics  were  daily 
assailed  with  charges  of  unfaithfulness  to  their  country,  urged 
them  to  forbearance  and  obedience  to  the  laws.  "  Should  any 
portion  of  the  community  assail  you,  as  if  you  were  unworthy  to 
be  members  of  this  free  and  enlightened  republican  government, 
let  your  refutation  of  their  calumnies  be  less  in  writings  and  in 

•  Concilium  Nco  Eboracense  Primum,  p.  20. 


436  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

words  than  in  deeds  and  actions.  Your  first  duty  is  supreme 
loyalty  to  God  and  your  holy  faith.  Your  second — subordinate, 
but  in  its  own  sphere  equally  supreme — loyalty  to  your  country, 
in  all  her  vicissitudes  of  prosperity  or  adversity,  if  God  should  so 
permit  her  to  be  tried.  Next  to  your  country,  in  this  secondary 
order,  your  families,  your  kindred,  your  neighbors,  your  friends 
and  enemies,  your  countrymen  and  all  mankind."  This  letter 
also  urged  on  all  the  necessity  of  a  proper  and  Catholic  educa- 
tion of  the  young,  and  warned  them  against  the  idea  so  insidi- 
ously kept  up  by  the  enemies  of  Catholicity,  that  every  edition  of 
paper  which  circulated  among  Catholics  was  an  organ  for  which 
the  Church  or  its  prelates  were  responsible. 

The  decrees  of  the  Council  were  approved  by  the  Holy  See  on 
the  9th  of  July,  1855,  and  the  Holy  Father,  in  his  letter  to  the 
prelates  of  the  province,  commended  their  zeal,  and  urged  thera 
to  unite  in  an  endeavor  to  establish  an  American  college  or  e«- 
clesiastical  seminary  at  Rome.  "  By  its  means,"  says  the  Holy 
Father,  "  young  men  chosen  by  you,  and  sent  for  the  hope  of  re- 
ligion to  this  city,  will  grow  like  tender  plants  in  a  nursery,  and 
here  imbued  in  piety  and  learning,  will  draw  uncorrupted  doc- 
trine from  its  very  source ;  and  learning  the  rites  and  sacred 
ceremonies  from  the  custom  and  manners  of  that  Church  which 
is  the  mother  and  mistress  of  all,  and  formed  to  the  best  disci- 
pline, may  on  their  return  to  their  native  land  discharge  with 
success  the  duties  of  pastors,  preachers,  and  teachers,  edify  by  an 
exemplary  life,  instruct  the  ignorant,  recall  the  erring  to  the 
paths  of  truth  and  justice,  and  by  the  aid  of  solid  learning,  re 
fute  the  fallacies  and  silence  the  madness  of  designing  men." 

The  wish  of  the  Holy  Father  found  an  echo  in  the  hearts  ol 
the  American  Catholics,  and  one  gentleman — the  late  Nicholas 
Devereux,  of  Utica — proposed  that  a  hundred  of  the  more 
wealthy  Catholics  should,  by  each  subscribing  a  thousand  dol- 
lars, raise  a  fund  to  begin  the  college.     The  others  will  doubtless 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  437 

soon  present  themselves ;  if  not,  a  general  collection  among  tlie 
Catholics  will  easily  give  the  necessary  means  to  give  America 
its  representative  college  at  Rome  beside  those  of  England,  Ire- 
land, France,  and  Germany. 

Soon  after  the  conclusion  of  the  Provincial  Council,  the  Most 
Reverend  Archbishop  resolved  to  visit  Rome  in  order  to  be  pres- 
ent at  the  definition  of  the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion ;  and  with  the  Archbishops  of  New  Orleans  and  Baltimore, 
and  the  Bishops  of  Pittsburg,  Buffiilo,  and  Philadelphia,  he  had 
the  consolation  of  taking  part  in  the  solemnities  of  the  auspicious 
day. 

During  his  absence  the  enemies  of  Catholicity,  whom  a  period 
of  fanaticism  had  enabled  to  obtain  an  influential  position  in  the 
Legislature  of  the  State,  on  a  petition  of  the  trustees  of  St.  Louis 
Church,  Buflalo,  without  examination  into  its  truth,  without  any 
discussion  of  the  question  by  committees,  but  exulting  in  a  pre- 
text which  enabled  them  to  hide  their  desire  of  overthrowing 
Catholicity  under  the  mask  of  zeal  for  the  public  good,  passed 
a  law  concerning  church  property  in  open  violation  of  common 
sense,  common  honesty,  and  constitutional  rights.  Assuming 
that  the  majority  of  the  Legislature  are  the  owners  of  all  real 
and  personal  property  in  the  State,  and  that  the  actual  owners 
are  merely  tenants  at  their  pleasure,  they  enacted  that  all  prop- 
erty held  by  any  person  in  any  ecclesiastical  office  or  orders 
should,  on  his  death,  vest  in  the  occupants  or  congregation  using 
it,  if  they  were  incorporated  j>r  would  incorporate,  and  in  default, 
in  the  people  of  the  State.  Another  clause  provided  that  no 
deed  of  property  to  be  used  for  divine  worship  should  be  legal 
or  have  any  force  unless  made  to  a  corporation.  By  these  ab- 
surd enactments  no  individual  can  purchase  a  lot  for  a  chapel, 
and  though  he  pay  the  value  the  deed  is  inoperative ;  and  if, 
prior  to  the  passing  of  the  act,  any  individual  owned  property 
used  for  divire  worship,  it  would,  on  his  death,  pass  not  to  his 


438  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

heirs,  but  to  any  set  of  men  to  whom  he  might  have  let  it,  of 
who  had  even  intruded  into  it.* 

The  absurdity  of  the  whole  affair  was,  however,  but  a  cloak  to 
the  real  desire  of  seizing  the  property  of  the  Catholics  or  ham- 
pering them  in  its  use. 

Scarcely  had  the  act  passed  the  Senate  when  the  Most  Rev- 
erend Archbishop  returned  from  Europe,  and  having  read  the 
strange  documents,  including  petition,  act,  and  the  speeches 
made  in  regard  to  it,  deemed  it  due  to  himself  to  protest  against 
the  false  statements  in  regard  to  himself  on  which  it  was  based. 
These  were  chiefly  an  assertion  in  the  petition  of  the  trustees  of 
St.  Louis  Church  that  he  had  attempted  to  compel  them  to 
convey  the  title  of  their  church  property  to  him,  and  an  assertion 
made  by  Erastus  Brooks,  editor  of  the  New  York  Express,  and 
member  of  the  Senate,  that  the  Archbishop  of  New  York  owned 
property  in  the  city  of  New  York  to  an  amount  which  he  sup- 
posed not  much  short  of  five  millions  of  dollars.  The  plan  of 
the  schemers  was  evident ;  they  wished  to  represent  the  Cath- 
olic prelates  as  grasping  at  all  property,  and  as  already  owners 
of  immense  amounts. 

The  archbishop  at  once  came  forward  and  so  completely  re- 
futed the  trustees  of  St.  Louis  that  they  admitted  that  he  never 
had  demanded  the  title  of  their  property.  Mr.  Brooks  attempted 
to  show  that  his  assertion  was  well  founded,  and  in  a  long  series 
of  letters,  full  of  abuse  and  old  records,  attempted  to  make  good 
his  case ;  but  the  archbishop  followed  him,  step  by  step,  and  so 
completely  exposed  the  unjust  means  used  to  pass  the  act,  and 
the  intrinsic  usurpations  of  the  statute  itself,  as  to  destroy  all  the 
advantage  which  the  enemies  of  Catholicity  wished  to  obtain. 
In  the  letter  closing  the  controversy  he  says :  "  This  is,  I  think, 


*.See  this  ridiculous  law  in  the  Laws  of  the  State  of  New  York  for  1855, 
eh.  230. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  439 

the  first  statute  passed  in  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  since  the 
Revolution,  which  has  for  its  object  to  abridge  the  religious  and 
encroach  on  the  civil  rights  of  the  members  of  one  specific  reli- 
gious denomination.  Hitherto,  when  any  denomination  of 
Christians  in  the  State  desired  the  modification  of  its  laws  afTect- 
ing  church  property,  the  Legislature  waited  for  their  petitions  to 
that  effect,  took  the  same  into  consideration,  and  when  there 
was  no  insuperable  objection,  modified  the  laws  so  as  to  accom- 
modate them  to  the  requirements  of  the  particular  sect  or  de- 
nomination by  whom  the  petition  had  been  presented.  Thus 
the  law  of  1784,  though  still  on  the  statute  book,  has  become 
practically  antiquated  and  obsolete.  From  its  odious  and  often 
impracticable  requirements,  the  Episcopalians,  the  Presbyterians, 
the  Methodists,  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  the  Quakers,  and 
perhaps  others  besides,  have  at  various  times  solicited  exemption 
at  the  hands  of  the  Legislature,  and  obtained  special  enactments 
more  in  accordance  w^ith  their  faith  and  discipline  respectively. 
Now  this  antiquated  law  is  the  one  which  is  revived,  reinvigor- 
ated,  strengthened  by  provisions  for  contingent  confiscation  of 
church  property,  and  forced  upon  the  Catholics  of  the  State  of 
New  York  as  sufiSciently  good  for  them.  They  had  not  peti- 
tioned for  it ;  they  did  not  desire  it ;  they  will  not  have  it,  if 
they  can  lawfully  dispense  with  its  enactments." 

As  this  attempt  on  the  rights  of  Catholics,  and  the  discussion 
which  grew  out  of  it,  attracted  great  attention,  the  archbishop 
published  the  controversy,  with  an  introduction,  in  which  he  re- 
viewed the  whole  history  of  trusteeism  in  the  United  States,  and 
especially  the  evils  which  it  had  produced  in  St.  Peter's  Chuich, 
the  cradle  of  Catholicity  in  New  York.  The  faithful  have  in- 
deed been  so  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  miseries  of  that  system, 
that  not  a  single  congregation  in  any  part  of  the  State  showed 
the  least  approval  of  the  conduct  of  the  trustees  of  St.  Louia 
Church,  but  all  regarded  the  attack  as  an  insidious  attempt  to 


440  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

defraud  them  of  the  shrines  which  -with  so  many  sacrifices  they 
had  reared  to  the  service  of  Ahnighty  God.* 

While  a  great  wrong  was  thus  meditated,  the  archbishop  was 
consoled  by  the  arrival  of  two  new  colonies  of  religious  women 
to  aid  in  the  great  cause  of  education.  These  were  the  Ursulines 
and  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross.  The  former  were,  as  we  have 
seen,  no  strangers  in  the  diocese,  their  order  having  been  the 
first  to  establish  a  convent  in  New  York — that,  however,  had 
long  been  closed  when  this  new  colony  of  the  Daughters  of  St. 
Angela  Merici  appeared.  It  consisted  of  eleven  religious,  under 
the  guidance  of  Mother  Magdalen  Stehlen,  who,  on  the  16th  of 
May,  1855,  founded  at  East  Morrisania,  in  the  county  of  West- 
chester, the  eleventh  house  of  their  order  which  has  existed  in 
the  United  States.  These  Ursulines  came  from  a  convent  at  St. 
Louis,  in  the  State  of  Missouri,  founded  in  the  year  1848,  through 
the  zeal  and  exertions  of  Mother  Stehlen  and  two  other  Sisters, 
who,  with  the  permission  of  their  diocesan,  left  the  Ursuline  con- 
vent at  Oedensburg,  in  Hungary,  to  labor  in  America.  Joined 
by  other  German  Sisters  from  the  convent  of  Landshut,  in  Ba- 
varia, the  house  prospered  rapidly,  and  in  1855  was  enabled  to 
send  a  colony  to  New  York,  where,  as  elsewhere,  they  devote 
themselves  to  the  education  of  children  of  their  own  sex.f 

The  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  had  a  special  object  in  view. 
The  orphan  asylums  at  New  York  had  been  for  years  under  the 
direction  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  who  brought  up  the  children 
with  a  zeal  and  care  beyond  all  praise ;  but  on  ari'iving  at  a  cer- 
tain age  the  children  were  bound  out  as  apprentices,  and  many, 
thus  thrown  upon  an  unfeeling  world,  were  lost  to  religion  and 


*  Brooksiana ;  or  the  controversy  between  Senator  Brooks  and  Archbishop 
Hughes,  grown  out  of  the  recently  enacted  Church  Property  Bill ;  with  an 
introduction  by  the  JMost  Eeverend  Archbishop  of  New  York.  New  York, 
1855. 

t  Metropolitan  Magazine,  iv.  158. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  441 

society.  The  object  of  a  new  establishment  was  to  teach  ihese 
girls  trades  in  a  house  under  the  direction  of  some  pious  Sisters, 
and  thus  enable  them  to  earn  a  livelihood,  and  attain  an  age  less 
liable  to  be  deceived  before  entering  on  the  career  of  life.  The 
Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  chosen  for  this  work  were  founded  in 
France  by  the  Rev.  Basil  Mary  Anthony  Moreau,  in  the  year  1839, 
and  are  consecrated  to  the  Sorrowful  and  Immaculate  Heart  of 
^lary.  They  unite  teaching  with  the  various  works  of  mercy  as 
the  objects  of  their  institute. 

The  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross  were  introduced  into  the  United 
States  in  connection  with  the  Priests  of  the  Holy  Cross  about 
1842,  and  have  an  extensive  establishment  at  South  Bend,  Indi- 
ana, where  there  is  a  novitiate  of  the  order. 

Archbishop  Hughes  proinptly  seconded  tlie  projected  Ameri- 
can College  at  Rome  ;  and  when  the  illustrious  Pope  Pins  IX. 
purchased  the  convent  of  the  Umilta,  New  York  at  once  sent 
her  contribution  before  any  special  collection  was  made. 

In  1858  the  Archbishop  began  to  giade  and  prepare  the  site 
for  his  new  cathedral  on  Fifth  avenue,  and  selected  a  ]>]an  from 
those  submitted  by  architects.  It  was  to  be  the  largest  and 
grandest  church  on  the  continent :  322  feet  long  and  97  wide. 
The  oi  iginal  cost  was  estimated  at  three  quarters  of  a  million  of 
dollars,  but,  as  the  work  went  on,  more  than  twice  that  amount 
was  expended.  The  corner-stone  was  laid,  with  most  impo'^ing 
'  ceremonies,  on  the  15th  of  August,  1858,  which  were  witnessed 
by  fully  one  hundred  thousand  people. 

In  January,  18G0,  an  informal  council  of  the  bisiiops  of  the 
province  was  held  in  New  York,  and  an  address  of  sympathy 
forwaided  to  the  Holy  Father.  A  pastoral  address  was  also 
published,  to  allow  no  doubt  in  Catholic  minds  as  to  the  real 
position  of  affairs  at  Rome.  This  pastoral  was  re-published  in 
Rome,  and  translated  into  Italian. 

When  the  civil  war  began  many  Catholics  entered  the  army. 


442  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

The  69tli  New  York  Militia,  almost  all  Catholic,  was  one  of  the 
first  regiments  thai  marched  to  the  seat  of  war.  It  was  attended 
by  the  Rev.  T.  Mooney  of  St.  Ih'idget's  church,  as  chaplain. 
During  the  cruel  strife,  which  had  been  fanned  by  the  old  fana- 
tical enemies  of  Catholicity,  Catholic^i  did  their  duty  as  citizens, 
and  shed  their  blood  freely  on  a  thousand  battle-fields.  The 
army  records  show  able  and  devoted  Catholics  in  every  branch 
of  the  aimy  and  navy  service,  from  the  highest  to  the  humblest 
rank.  Priests  died  on  the  battle-field  ministeiing  to  the  dying; 
Sistei's  of  various  orders  sacrificed  every  comfort,  and  health 
itself,  in  hospital  service. 

The  cause  of  the  S«)uth  excited  great  sympathy  in  Europe, 
and  many  of  the  great  pov/ers  seemed  to  rejoice  at  the  appa- 
rently speedy  ruin  of  the  great  Ameiican  republic.  The  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  requested  Archbishop  Hughes  to 
visit  England  and  France  in  order  to  bring  about  a  more  favor- 
able impression.  The  archbishop  accepted,  in  the  hope  of  ren- 
dering a  service  to  his  country,  feeling  that  his  mission  was  not 
incompatible  with  his  high  duties,  and,  if  successful,  must  re- 
dound to  the  benefit  of  the  Church. 

He  visited  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  and  then  proceeded  to 
Rome,  where  he  took  part  in  the  canonization  of  the  Japanese 
martyis,  and  returned  by  way  of  England  and  Ireland.  After 
laying  the  corner-stone  of  tlie  Catholic  University  he  returned 
to  the  United  States.  The  Go\einment  appreciaied  the  service 
he  had  r.^ndccd  by  e!i>uring  a  better  state  of  feeling. 

The  confirmation  of  four  hundred  soldiers  of  the  "  Corcoran 
Legion,"  at  Camp  Scott,  in  1802,  was  one  of  those  events  which 
shov»ed  how  he  looked  lo  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Catholics 
called  to  the  military  service.  Ten  or  twelve  priests  had,  in  a 
mission,  prepared  these  men  for  the  reception  of  the  sacrament. 

Toward  the  close  of  1862  the  archbishop,  in  concert  with  his 
suffragans,  purchased  a  fine  building  at  Troy,  erected  by  the 


IIT  THE  UNITED  STATES.  443 

Methodists  for  an  university,  with  a  museum,  apparatus,  library, 
jukI  chapel.  Here  was  opened  St.  Joseph's  Tlieoiogical  Semi- 
nary oflhe  province  of  New  York.  Placed  under  the  direction 
of  able  and  learned  professors  this  institution  has  prospered,  and 
g-iven  to  Xew  England,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey  numbers  of 
excellent  priests.  In  1878  it  contained  152  students  for  the 
prii'Sthood, — 65  from  Now  York,  26  from  Albany,  and  the  rest 
from  the  other  dioceses  which  were  or  had  been  in  the  province. 

His  health  failed  rapidly  after  this;  and  his  last  public  ap- 
pe.irancG  was  an  attempt  to  calm  the  excited  feelings  of  the 
people  at  the  time  of  the  Draft  Riots.  He  died  January  3d, 
1864,  surrounded  by  Bishops  McCloskey  and  Loughlin,  Mother 
Angela  and  several  of  his  clergy. 

His  mission  was  a  providential  one.  He  fomid  many  difficul- 
ties and  abuses  existing  in  his  own  diocese  :.  much  injustice  done 
to  Catholics  as  citizens.  He  met  all  great  questions,  as  it  were, 
in  public,  discussing  from  the  highest  ground  of  principle  and 
right.  His  words  naturally  applied  to  similar  conditions  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  and  excited  a  general  interest,  so  that  he 
was  regarded  as  the  great  representative  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  United  States,  and  his  utterances  on  all  important  topics 
were  looked  forward  to  by  the  whole  people  of  the  country,  and 
as  they  were  always  timely,  masterly,  and  convincing,  their  in- 
fluence for  the  cause  of  Catholicity  was  incalculable.  Of  hirn 
it  was  well  said  :  "  A  man  who  obtained  so  much  mastery  over 
his  fellow  men  must  have  greatness  in  him." 

As  bishop  and  archbishop  he  accomplished  much  for  his 
diocese.  At  his  consecration,  in  1838,  the  diocese  of  New  York, 
embracing  the  whole  State  and  half  of  New  Jersey,  had  but  49 
churches,  55  priests,  a  feeble  seminary  and  college.  At  his 
death,  aUhough  the  dioceses  of  Albany,  Brooklyn,  Buffalo  and 
Newark  had  taken  all  but  New  York  and   Staten  Island,  and 


444  THE  CATHOLIC  CHUKCH 

the  river  counties  as  f;ir  as  Ulster  and  Ducbess,  the  diocese 
thus  reduced  to  much  less  than  one-fourth  its  size,  had  an  eccle- 
siastical seminary  of  great  pi'omise,  G8  churches,  127  priests, 
including  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  Redeniptorists, 
Paulists,  and  Priests  of  the  Order  of  Meicy;  3  colleges,  13 
academies,  31  parochial  free  schools,  2  hospitals,  with  Brothers 
of  the  Christian  School?,  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  Sisters  oi 
Charitv,  of  Mercy,  of  Notre  Dame,  and  of  the  Good  Shepherd, 
zealous  in  their  several  fields  of  pious  labor. 

On  the  death  of  Archbishop  Hughes  the  Holy  See  promoted 
to  the  vacant  see  one  who  had  alieady  been  his  coadjutor,  and 
who  had  for  years  governed,  with  singular  ability,  a  part  of  the 
orio-inal  diocese  of  New  York,  Bi>hop  McCioskey  of  Albany. 
He  knew  personally  almost  all  the  clergy  of  his  diocese  ;  and  on 
his  accession  s(^t  himself,  by  encouraging  his  clergy  and  stimu- 
lating his  people,  to  give  the  Catholic  churches  and  instilutions 
such  an  increase  in  number  and  efficiency  as  would  enable 
them  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  faithful.  The  increase  of  Ca- 
tholic population  had  been  so  great  that  sufficient  church  accom- 
modation had  never  been  attained,  and  much  charitable  work 
yet  remained  almost  untouched. 

He  resumed  the  building  of  the  Cathedral;  and  by  his  inspira- 
tion new  churches  arose  in  many  parts  of  the  diocese,  often  very 
elaborate  and  expensive,  such  as  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Inno- 
cents, St.  Teresa's,  St.  Rose  of  Lima,  Epiphany,  the  Holy  Name 
of  Jesus,  St.  Elizabeth's,  and  others  in  the  city  and  country  parts 
of  the  diocese.  The  Fathers  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic  began 
at  last  in  New  York  the  work  projected  by  Bishop  Concanen, 
and  erected  a  church  in  honor  of  St.  Vincent  Ferrer,  and,  by 
missions  in  various  paits,  aided  in  maintaining  a  lively  faith. 
Capuchin  convents  showed  communities  of  those  fathers  labor- 
ing in  the  vast  field  of  city  wants.     The  Brothers  of  Mary  and 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  445 

Franoi-^oan  Bvothcr-s  the  Presentation  Nuns,  Sisters  of  Chris- 
tian Charity,  and  Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Mary,  were 
added  to  the  communities  devoted  to  education  or  works  of 
mercy.  Institutions  and  communities  already  existing  grew  and 
developed,  schools  increased  in  number  and  efficiency,  the  Ca- 
tholic Protectory  became  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  institu- 
tions of  tlie  kind  in  the  country.  A  foundling  asylum,  an  im- 
mense work  long  needed  by  the  city,  was  lieroi(;ally  begun  by 
tlie  Sisters  of  Charity,  who,  in  a  few  years,  had  nearly  two 
thousand  of  th<^se  unfortunate  little  ones  under  their  kind  and 
pious  care.  Homes  for  the  aged,  and  for  destitute  girls  and 
children,  and  asylums  for  deaf  mutes,  and  the  Mission  of  the 
Immaculate  Virgin  for  the  Protection  of  Homeless  Boys,  the 
waits  of  our  streets,  have  been  added  to  the  works  in  New  York. 
The  institution  of  the  Catholic  Union  and  Xavier  Union  in- 
fused a  new  spirit  into  the  laity,  and  gathered  for  works  of  good 
those  whose  talents,  wealth,  learning,  and  infiuence  gave  them 
a  dignified  position  among  their  fellow  citizens. 

With  the  rapid  increase  of  the  Church  in  the  United  Slates 
Catholics  had  looked  forward  to  the  day  when  some  one  ot  the 
great  prelates  of  the  Church  in  this  country  would  be  raised  to 
the  piu-ple,  so  that  America  might  be  represented  in  the  College 
of  Cardinals.  This  hope  was  realized  when  Pope  Pius  IX.,  on 
the  15th  of  March,  1875,  on  a  promotion  of  cardinals,  created 
Archbishop  McClo>key  Cardinal  Priest  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Church,  under  the  title  of  Sancta  Maria  supra  Minervara.  A 
legate,  Mgr.  Roucetti,  and  Count  Marefoschi,  one  of  the  Pope's 
Noble  Guard,  arrived  with  the  formal  announcement  of  his  ele- 
vation. The  presentation  of  the  emblems  of  the  Cardinalate  in 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  was  one  of  the  grandest  ecclesiastical 
Ceremonies  ever  witnessed  in  America. 

Thouo-h  Enoland  had  been  roused  to  a  kind  of  mad  fury  on 
the  promotion  of  D:.  Wiseman,  the  case  was  far  diflerent  in 


446  THE  CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

America.  Bitter  as  was  the  feeling  still  lurking  in  many  parts 
against  the  Church,  the  general  feeling  throughout  the  country 
Avas  one  of  pride  thnt  a  Catholic  archbishop,  born  and  bred  on 
the  soil,  amid  all  the  influences  of  republican  institutions,  spot- 
less and  amiable  in  life,  should  be  raised  to  an  honor  reached  by 
so  few. 


i:jq'  THE  united  states.  447 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 
New  York  and  New  Jersey. 

dioceses  of  ogdensburg,  albany,  buffalo,  rochester,  brook- 
lyn, and  newark. 

Diocese  of  Ogdensburg— Earlv  Catliolic  affairs— Church  and  Mission  of  the  Presenta- 
tion at  Ogdensburg— St.  Kcgis— Chaplains  at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point— liev.  Mr. 
dc  la  Valiulere  and  his  church  on  Lake  Cliamplain— Right  llev.  E.  P.  Wadhams. 

Diocese  of  Albany— Early  Indian  Missions -Cliurch  at  Albanj-— Early  pastors- 
Increase  of  Catholicity— Appointment  of  Right  Rev.  John  McCloskey  as  first 
Bibh0{>— His  administration— lustitutious-Religiuus  Orders— Jesuits— Ladies  of  tlie 
Sacred  Heart— Brothers  of  the  Christan  Schools— Right  Rev.  John  J.  Conroy,  D.D.— 
Right  Rev.  Francis  McNcirney,  D.D. 

Diocese  of  Buffalo— French  chaplains  at  Fort  Niagara— Early  Catholic  matters— Ap- 
pointment of  the  Right  Rev.  John  Timon  as  bishop— The  Jesuits,  Redemptorists, 
Franciscans,  Christian  Brothers,  and  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart- Sisters  of  Charily, 
Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  Sisters  of  St.  Bridget  and  of  Our  Lady  of  Charity— Right 
Rev.  Stephen  V.  Ryan,  D.D. 

Diocese  of  Rochester— Right  Rev.  Bernard  J.  McQuald,  D.D, 

Diocese  of  Brooklyn— Catholicity  on  Long  Ibland— First  church  In  Brooklyn— Progress 
—Right  Rev.  John  Loughlin,  Qrst  bishop— Visitation  Nuns— Sisters  of  Charity— Sisters 
of  Mercy— Dominican  Sisters. 

Diocese  of  Newark- Catholicity  in  New  Jersey— Its  progress— Apppolntment  of  Right 
Rev.  James  R.  Bayley,  first  bishop— Seton  Hall— Right  Rev.  M.  J.  Corrigan,  D.D. 

In  our  opening  chapter  on  the  Churcli  in  the  State  we  dwelt 
at  some  length  on  the  early  Catholic  missions  among  the  Five 
Nations  of  Iroquois,  and  of  their  close  in  consequence  of  political 
schemes  and  intrigues. 

The  treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1*713,  by  acknowledging  the  author- 
ity of  England  over  the  Five  Iroquois  Nations,  had  forced  the 
missionaries  to  abandon  the  Iroquois  to  their  new  master 
Nothing  but  a  war  could  again  open  to  religion  the  way  to  the 
cantons.  In  1*745  the  xlbbe  Francis  Picquet  accompanied  his 
flock — the  Indians  of  the  Lake  of  the  Two  Mountains — in  the 
expedition  against  Fort  Edward.  During  the  continuation  of 
hostilities  he  had  occasion  to  see  the  New  York  Iroquois,  and 
found  them  disposed  to  embrace  Catholicity ;  but  as  he  could  not 
e.ven  think  of  attempting  a  mission  in  the  Indian  towns  in  the 


448  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

interior  of  New  York,  -svliere  the  English  would  not  have  loler 
ated  his  presence,  the  Abbe  Picquet  resolved  to  found  a  Reduc- 
tion  near  the  embouchure  of  Lake  Ontario  into  the  St.  Lawrence, 
in  order  to  attract  to  that  spot  the  well  disposed  among  the  In- 
dians of  the  League.  His  project  was  approved  by  the  Governor 
of  Canada,  and  in  the  month  of  May,  1*748,  he  set  out  to  choose 
a  site,  and  decided  on  a  beautiful  port  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oswe- 
gatchie,  where  the  city  of  Ogdensburg  now  stands.  With  the 
help  of  his  French  and  Indians,  ihe  missionary  erected  a  store- 
house and  palisade  fort,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  the  Pre- 
sentation, in  honor  of  the  holiday  which  is  the  patronal  feast  of 
the  Congregation  of  St.  Sulpice,  to  which  he  belonged.  In  the 
month  of  October,  1749,  a  war  party  of  Mohawks  set  fire  to  the 
Presentation,  and  occasioned  the  Abbe  Picquet  a  loss  of  thirty 
thousand  livres.  Undiscouraged,  however,  he  at  great  expense 
repaired  the  loss,  and  having  begun  his  mission  with  six  Indian 
famihes,  he  had  the  consolation  of  counting,  in  1751,  four  hun- 
dred families,  comprising  three  thousand  souls,  and  composed 
almost  entirely  of  Onondagas  and  Cayugas. 

The  success  of  Mr.  Picquet  silenced  the  envy  and  jealousy  in 
Canada  which  at  first  had  ridiculed  his  projects,  and  people  be- 
gan to  realize  the  religious  and  strategic  importance  of  this  post 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  province  of  New  York.  In  l7o2  the 
Bishop  of  Quebec,  Henry  Mary  du  Breuil  de  Pontbriand,  visited 
the  Presentation  mission,  and  after  spending  several  days  in  in- 
structing the  neophytes,  baptized  one  hundred  and  twenty,  and 
confirmed  many.  This  was  doubtless  the  first  episcopal  act  per- 
formed by  a  Catholic  bishop  within  the  present  limits  of  the 
State  of  New  York.  On  this  occasion  the  ladies  of  Montreal 
embroidered  for  the  mission  a  beautiful  banner,  still  preserved  at 
the  Lake  of  the  Two  Mountains.  The  Abbe  Picquet  oiganized 
a  civil  government,  by  appointing  a  council  of  tvy'elve  chiefs,  whc 
took  an  ^ath  of  fidelity  to  France.     He  also  visited  the  interior 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  449 

of  the  cantons,  and  was  everywhere  well  received  by  the  Indians. 
They  had  in  vain  awaited  the  missionaries  promised  by  the 
English,  and  as  their  chiefs  declared  in  reply  to  the  reproaches 
of  the  English,  they  felt  the  necessity  of  Christianity,  and  were 
disposed  to  emigrate  in  a  body  to  the  St.  Lawrence  to  obtain  it. 
To  elfect  this,  Mr.  Picquet  would  have  needed  other  priests  to 
aid  him,  skilful,  like  himself,  in  gaining  the  confidence  of  the 
Indians;  but  he  was  almost  alone,  and  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
whose  suppression  the  Catholic  sovereigns  of  Europe  were  de- 
manding, could  not  renew  their  efforts  of  the  previous  century. 
In  1*753,  Mr.  Picquet  went  to  France,  leaving  his  mission  to  the 
Rev.  Peter  de  la  Garde,  a  Sulpitian,  and  the  following  year  he 
returned  to  the  Presentation  with  two  priests.  But  the  war 
which  was  to  end  in  the  conquest  of  Canada  was  already  enkin- 
dled, and  instead  of  peacefully  continuing  amid  his  beloved  In- 
dians the  labors  of  the  apostolate,  he  had  to  accompany  numerous 
military  expeditions.  For  six  years  Mr.  Picquet  multiplied  his 
endeavors  to  draw  the  cantons  to  the  cause  of  France,  cement 
alliances  or  encourage  the  warriors.  So  great  was  his  influence 
over  the  tribes  that  the  Marquis  du  Quesne,  Governor  of  Canada, 
said  that  the  Abbe  Picquet  was  worth  more  than  ten  regiments, 
and  in  battle  the  Indians  always  believed  him  in  their  midst, 
even  when  he  was  actually  hundreds  of  miles  oflf.  But  all  the 
efforts  of  Canada  could  not  prevent  the  progress  of  the  Englisli, 
whose  armies  invaded  that  colony  on  all  sides,  while  it  was  ac- 
tually abandoned  without  resources  by  the  mother  country.  In 
1759  the  Rev.  Mr. -Picquet  had  been  forced  to  retire  from  the 
Presentation  and  settle  with  his  Indians  on  Grande  He  aux 
Galops,  in  the  midst  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  be  less  exposed  to 
^he  English.  There  he  built  a  chapel,  and  on  the  2d  of  Septem- 
ber, 1*759,  was  invited  to  bless  Fort  Levis,  which  the  Fiench 
were  erecting  on  another  island  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  On  the 
25th  of  August,  1760,  this  fort  wa«  forced  to  surrender  to  the 


450  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

English  after  a  vigorous  defence,  directed  by  Captain  Pouchot, 
and  diirinof  the  whole  sieo-e  the  Abbe  de  la  Garde  remained  on 
the  island  to  take  care  of  the  wounded.*  In  the  month  of  May, 
in  the  same  year,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Picquet  bade  adieu  to  his  mission, 
in  conformity  with  the  advice  of  the  governor,  to  avoid  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  English,  and  he  descended  to  Louisiana  by 
the  lakes  and  the  Mississippi.  He  spent  nearly  two  years  at  New 
Orleans,  where  his  preaching  produced  a  great  deal  of  good,  and 
at  last  seeing  that  France  sacrificed  all  her  American  possessions, 
he  returned  to  his  native  country,  which  his  zeal  had  so  faithfully 
served  abroad  for  thirty  years.f 

On  the  peace,  the  Rev.  Mr.  de  la  Garde  obtained  permission  to 
resume  the  care  of  the  mission  of  the  Presentation,  but  the 
English  garrison  at  the  fort  ere  long  demoralized  the  natives ; 
and  after  a  few  years  the  more  religious  dispersed,  seeking,  after 
many  vicissitudes,  a  refuge  at  Canadasaga,  Caughnawaga,  or 
St.  Francis  Regis.  This  last-named  village,  situated  on  the  St. 
Lawrence,  northeast  of  the  Presentation,  is  now  divided  by  the 
boundary  between  New  York  and  Canada,  and  is  thus  partly  in 
the  diocese  of  Albany.     It  was  founded  about  1760  by  the  Jesuit 

*  John  Peter  Besson  de  la  Garde,  born  in  France  about  1723,  remained  iu 
Canada  after  the  conquest,  and  died  on  the  10th  of  April,  1792,  Cure  of  St. 
Genevieve. 

+  Lettres  Edifantes  et  Curieuses.  Memoire  sur  la  vie  de  M.  Ficqnet,  mis- 
sioimaire  au  Canada  par  M.  la  Lande  de  PAcadeuiie  des  Sciences.  Shea's 
History  of  the  Catholic  Missions,  pp.  334-340.  Man  cripts  of  the  Hon.  I. 
Viger,  Com.  St.  Greg.  Francis  Picquet,  born  at  Boi  g  en  Bresse,  on  the 
6th  of  December,  1708,  entered  the  Congregation  of  St.  Sulpice  at  an  early 
age.  In  1733  he  solicited  and  obtained  permission  to  go  to  Canada,  and  de- 
voted himself  to  the  Iroquois  missions  with  equal  zeal  and  success.  "When 
in  1753  he  came  to  France  to  interest  the  government  iu  his  mission,  his 
family  wished  to  detain  him  at  Bresse,  and,  on  his  refusal,  disinherited  him. 
On  his  return  to  Paris  in  1762,  he  received  testimonials  of  esteem  from  the 
ciergy  of  France  and  from  the  Sovereign  Pontitf,  and  died  at  Verjon  on  the 
15th  of  July,  1781.  The  astronomer,  La  Lande,  his  countrymau,  who  wrote- 
the  memoir  cited  above,  was  an  infidel  of  the  Avorst  stamp,  and  was  one  ol 
the  authors  of  the  Dictionnaire  des  Athees. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  451 

Father  Mary  Anthony  Gordon,  with  some  Iroquois  families  sent 
from  Caughnawaga,  and  in  1806  it  received  the  refugees  from 
the  Presentation.  Father  Gordon  resided  at  St.  Regis  till  his 
death  in  1777.  After  that,  in  consequence  of  the  war  and  its 
troubles,  the  Iroquois  had  no  permanent  pastor  till  1795,  when 
the  Rev.  Roderic  McDonnell,  a  zealous  Scotch  priest,  directed 
them  till  his  death  in  1806.  To  him  succeeded  the  Rev.  John 
B.  Roupe,  a  Sulpitian  of  Montreal,  who,  becoming  an  object  of 
suspicion  to  the  Americans  during  the  war  of  1812,  was  taken 
prisoner  by  their  troops,  in  an  attack  on  his  village.  His  succes- 
sor, the  Rev.  Joseph  Marcoux,  was  so  favorable  to  the  Americans 
as  to  be  termed  by  his  flock,  Ratsihenstatsi  Wastonronon,  the 
American  priest.*  He  was  subsequently  for  many  years  at 
Caughnawaga,  where  he  died  on  the  29th  of  May,  1855,  re- 
nowned as  a  philologist  and  a  devoted  missionary.  His  cate- 
chisms and  prayer-books  are  used,  by  the  direction  of  the  bishop, 
in  all  the  Catholic  Iroquois  missions,  and  his  dictionaries  and 
grammars  will  ever  remain  a  monument  to  his  learning  and  a 
treasure  to  the  missionaries.! 

Since  1832  the  Rev.  Francis  Marcoux  has  been  pastor  at  St. 
Regis,  and  although  part  of  the  village  is,  as  we  have  said,  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  the  Bishop  of  Albany  leaves  the  whole  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  Montreal,  who  sends  Canadian 
missionaries  thei'e.  St.  Regis  contains  a  population  of  eleven 
hundred  souls,  governed  on  the  Canadian  side  by  chiefs,  on  the 
American  side  by  trustees ;  and  they  form  the  only  remnant  of 
Catholic  Iroquois  in  the  State  of  New  York,  where  their  fore- 
fathers of  the  Five  Nations  were  once  so  powerful.  The  unfortu- 
nate territorial  di\nsion  of  their  villas^e  between  the  Enjrlish  and 
Americans  is  still,  for  the  Indians,  a  source  of  trouble.      A  few 

*  The  Canadians  term  all  Americans  Bostonais,  and  the  Indians  adopt  the 
term, 
t  See  sketch  of  his  Ufe  and  labors  in  the  Metropclitan,  iii.  589. 


452  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

years  since,  Eleazar  Williams,  a  half-breed  who  had  become  a 
Protestant  minister,  pretended  to  be  Louis  XYII.  of  France. 

In  1732  the  French  reared  a  fort,  to  "svliich  they  gave  the 
name  of  St.  Frederic,  on  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Champlain, 
in  order  to  cover  Montreal  from  the  attacks  of  the  English.  This 
point  bore  the  name  of  Pointe  a  la  Chevulure,  M'hicli  the  English 
translated  Crown  Point.  The  Swedish  naturalist,  Kalm,  tells  us 
that  Fort  St.  Frederic  was  so  named  in  honor  of  M.  de  Maurepas, 
and  that  there  was  within  the  fort  a  well-built  church,  where  the 
soldiers  assembled  morning  and  evening  for  prayer.  "  The  French," 
he  adds,  "  give  much  more  time  in  their  colonies  to  prayer  and 
outward  worship  than  the  English  and  Dutch  settlers  in  the 
English  colonies."*  He  remarks,  too,  that  in  the  craft  in  which 
he  ascended  the  Hudson  the  hands  performed  no  devotions,  while 
in  the  French  sloop  that  took  him  down  Lake  Champlain  he  was 
edified  by  the  religious  conduct  of  the  crew,  especially  on  Sun- 
day.f 

Of  this  fort  the  names  of  the  chaplains  have  fortunately  come 
down  to  us,  and  among  them  is  Father  Emmanuel  Crespel,  fa- 
mous for  the  interesting  narrative  of  his  shipwreck,  whom  we 
shall  also  find  at  Niagara.^ 

*  Kalm,  Travels  in  North  America,  Translated  from  the  Swedish,  by  J. 
E.  Forster:  Warrington,  1770;  iii.  148.  The  travels  of  this  learned  natu- 
ralist are  very  interesting,  especially  as  regards  Canada.  He  speaks  well  of 
religion,  and  describes  judiciously  the  churches,  convents,  and  other  estab- 
lishments at  Quebec  and  Montreal.  He  was  much  pleased  with  the  .Jesuits, 
with  wliotn  he  frequently  dined,  and  among  whom  he  found,  as  he  avows, 
Bcientific  men  fully  equal  to  himself.  On  his  return  to  Sweden  he  was  made 
a  Lutheran  bishop. 

t  Kalm,  iii.  44. 

X  The  names  of  the  chaplains  at  Fort  St.  Frederic,  or  Beauharnais,  as 
drawn  by  the  learned  Mr.  Jacques  Viger,  of  Montreal,  from  the  register  still 
preserved  in  the  prothonotary's  office,  are- 
John  Baptist  Lajus,     1732-33.         Alexis  du  Buron,  1740-46. 
Peter  Baptist  Resche,  1733-34.        Bonaventurc  Carpentier,  1747. 

.   Benardine  de  Gannes,  1734-3J.        HypoHte  Collet,  1747-54. 

Emmanuel  Crespel,     1785-36.        Didacus  Cliche,  1754-58. 


IN"   THE   UNITED   STATES.  453 

In  1755  the  Freiicli  built  a  fort  still  farther  toAvards  the  capital 
of  New  York,  at  Carillon,  now  Ticoaderoga,  and  here  in  1757 
they  repulsed  the  army  of  General  Abercronihie.  This  was. 
however,  the  last  effort  of  their  power,  and  on  the  26th  of  July, 
1759,  Bourlamarque  had  to  evacuate  Ticonderoga  and  fall  back 
on  Canada.  Some  weeks  after  Montcalm  was  killed,  and  Quebec 
surrendered  to  England.  The  conquest  of  Canada  was  a  momen- 
tary triumph  for  Protestantism,  and  the  missionaries  disappeared 
from  the  State  of  New  York. 

When  the  American  army  under  Montgomery  entered  Canada, 
a,  number  of  the  French  settlers  joined  their  standard,  and  were 
enrolled  in  Lieber's  and  Oliver's  companies,  as  we  have  stated 
when  speaking  of  the  political  mission  of  Father  Carroll.  Among 
the  young  men  of  Chambly,  Assumption,  and  Machiche  the 
Americans  also  found  some  sympathizers,  especially  in  the  Aca- 
dians.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  the  deep-seated  hatred  of  the 
English  government  which  they  nurtured  in  their  hearts.  Some 
had  been  treacherously  banished  from  Acadia  in  1755,  and  after 
an  exile  of  greater  or  less  duration,  had  joined  the  Canadians, 
fellow-countrymen  in  their  eyes ;  others  had  fled  to  Canada  wher 
the  English  began  the  work  of  pillage  and  devastation  in  Acadia. 
All  nourished  an  inveterate  hatred  against  their  oppressors,  and 
seconded  the  Americans  in  their  enterprise  to  wrest  the  St.  Law- 
rence from  Great  Britain.  On  the  evacuation  of  Canada  in  1776 
those  most  compromised  followed  the  retreating  army,  and  re- 
mained till  the  close  of  the  war  incorporated  in  various  regiments 
of  the  American  army.  Their  families  in  many  cases  were  also 
compelled  to  follow.     A  letter  of  General  Schuyler's,  dated  Au- 


Peler  Verquaillie,        1736-41.        Anthony  Deperet,  1758-59. 

Daniel,  1741-43.        Felix  de  Beroy,  1760. 

The  last  entry  in  tlie  reorister,  a  baptism,  is  dated  Jan'y  12,  1760,  but  F.  do 
Berey  could  not  have  perlbrmed  it  at  Crown  Point,  which  the  French  had 
left  in  the  summer  of  1759. 


454  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

gust  18,  1776,  contains  a  pressing  recommendation  in  favor  of 
the  Canadians  of  Livingston's,  Hazen's,  and  Duggan's  corps,  then 
a.t  Albany,  representing  them  as  in  the  greatest  destitution  and 
i^akedness.  The  general  adds  that  many  Canadian  refugees  not 
in  the  army  were  in  the  same  state.*  The  latter  were  even  more 
miserable,  isolated  in  a  foreign  country,  whose  language  they 
knew  not,  and  whose  religion  they  did  not  share.  The  State  of 
New  York  at  last  took  pity  on  part  of  these  unfortunate  people, 
and  in  1789  and  1790  granted  lands  northwest  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain  to  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  Canadian  and  Acadian 
refugees.  These  lands  are  situated  in  the  present  county  of 
Clinton,  and  the  villages  of  Chazy  and  Corbeau  are  inhabited  in 
part  by  the  descendants  of  these  soldiers  of  the  Revolution. 
Others  of  the  Canadians  settled  at  Fishkill,  where  we  have  seen 
the  apostolic  Father  Farmer  laboring  among  them;  others  at 
New  York,  and  more  at  Split  Rock  Bay,  on  Lake  Champlain. 

Both  those  at  New  York  and  those  at  Split  Rock  were  for  a 
time  attended  by  a  clergyman  whose  sufferings  and  eccentric  life 
require  some  details.  Peter  Huet  de  la  Valiniere,  born  at 
Nantes,  in  Brittany,  on  the  10th  of  January,  1732,  was  received 
into  the  Congregation  of  St.  Sulpice,  and  came  to  Montreal  a 
sub-deacon  in  1755.  He  was  ordained  priest  at  Quebec  in  1757, 
and  was  one  of  the  twenty-eight  Sulpitians  who  submitted  to  be- 
come English  subjects  when  twelve  of  their  brethren  returned  to 
France.  Mr.  de  la  Valiniere  does  not,  however,  seem  to  have 
succeeded  in  conceiving  a  very  lively  affection  for  the  new  mas- 
ters of  Canada,  and  in  1776,  while  pastor  at  the  Assumption,  fell 
under  the  suspicion  of  government  for  his  political  conduct  and 

*  American  Archives,  Series  V.  vol.  i.  1031.  The  same  collection,  S.  IV. 
vi.  923,  mentions  a  captain's  commission  given  by  Sullivan  to  Francis  Guillot, 
of  Riviere  du  Loup ;  and  in  V.  i,  798,  names  the  Canadians,  Loseau,  Al- 
ler,  Basade,  and  Menarece  (Menard),  as  officers  in  Col.  James  Livingston's 
regiment.  Colonel  Fremont,  the  explorer,  is  the  sou  of  a  Canadian  who  em- 
igrated to  the  United  States  in  1790. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  455 

his  sympathy  for  the  army  of  the  United  States  then  in  tlie 
colony.^*  Even  before  receiving  the  complaints  of  the  governor, 
the  bishop  had  several  times  removed  Mr.  de  la  Valiniere  from 
one  point  to  another  away  from  the  frontiers,  but  as  that  clergy- 
man still  expressed  his  opinions  freely,  Sir  Francis  Haldeman 
seized  him  in  1780,  and  sent  him  in  a  frigate  to  England.  iVfter 
remaining  eighteen  months  in  a  prison-ship  he  was  set  at  liberty, 
and  reached  J3rittauy  towards  the  close  of  1781.  Soon  dissatis- 
fied with  his  family,  and  meeting,  in  consequence  of  his  eccen- 
tricity, a  rather  cool  reception  from  the  Sulpitians  at  Paris,  he 
resolved  to  return  to  Canada,  and  set  sail  for  Martinique.  From 
this  point  the  Abbe  de  la  Valiniere  proceeded  to  St.  Domingo, 
and  had  scarcely  recovered  from  an  attack  of  the  yellow  fever 
when  he  took  passage  in  a  small  craft  for  Newburyport.  From 
this  Massachusetts  port  he  travelled  on  foot  to  Montreal,  where 
he  arrived  in  the  early  part  of  June,  1785.  He  remained  till 
August ;  but  the  Rev.  Mr.  Montgolfier,  the  Superior  of  St.  Sul- 
pice,  wished  him  to  leave  the  country,  and  the  Bishop  of  Quebec 
gave  him  very  favorable  letters  for  the  United  States.  Again  he 
set  out  on  foot  for  Baltimore,  and  having  been  received  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Carroll,  asked  Father  Farmer  to  be  allowed  to  reside  at 
]S'ew  York  and  exercise  the  ministiy  for  the  Canadians  and 
French.     On  transmitting  this  request  to  Father  Carroll,  on  the 

*  On  the  ]2th  of  August,  1776,  M.  de  Montgolfier,  Superior  of  St.  Sulpice, 
wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  :  "  As  to  tlie  clergy,  they  remain  in  the  best 
disposition  with  regard  to  submission  to  lawful  authority I  have  hith- 
erto observed  silence  as  to  the  three  missionaries  of  Sault  St.  Louis,  Lon- 
gueuil,  and  Assumption  (M.  de  la  Valiniere),  the  most  culpable  and  least  re- 
covered of  all.  I  should  like  him  got  out  of  the  country;  he  is  very  volatile, 
and,  though  of  correct  life,  will  undoubtedly  give  us  some  trouble."  Ar- 
chives of  the  See  of  Quebec. 

The  missionary  at  Sault  St.  Louis  was  Father  Joseph  Huguet,  S.  J.,  who 
was  stationed  there  from  1757,  till  his  death,  May  6,  1783.  The  government 
either  would  not  or  durst  not  remove  liim.  The  Cure  of  Longueuil,  from 
176G  to  Oct.  1,  1777,  was  the  Eev.  Claude  Carpentier,  a  secular  priest.  He 
was  removed,  in  1777,  to  Vercheres,  where  he  died  in  1798. 


456  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

27^  of  December,  iTSo,  Father  Farmer  adds :  "  I  have  no  doubt 
Mr.  de  la  Vahniere's  stay  among  these  poor  people,  and  his  dis- 
courses to  them,  will  revive  their  past  devotion.  My  answer  to 
him  was,  that  till  your  pleasure  be  known,  he  might  exercise  at 
New  York,  with  respect  to  the  Canadians  and  French  only,  those 
faculties  which  your  reverence  had  given  him.  To  this  answer  I 
was  moved  by  the  extreme  spiritual  necessity  of  these  poor  peo- 
ple. Another  motive  was  mentioned  by  himself,  and  it  is  that 
formerly,  in  Canada,  he  had  been  the  ordinary  pastor  of  thoee 
voluntary  exiles;  and  may  we  not  add  to  these  motives  that  he 
was  our  fellow-missionary  in  America,  and  that  he  comes  with 
approbation  from  a  neighboring  bishopric  ?"* 

When  the  revolted  trustees  drove  Father  Whelan  from  New 
York  in  February,  1*786,  Mr.  de  la  Valiniere  received  powers  as 
parish  priest,  without  restriction  to  the  French  and  Canadians. 
But  the  incessant  troubles  of  the  cono-resration  induced  him  to 
abridge  his  stay ;  and  besides,  the  worthy  priest  had  too  restless 
a  mind  to  dwell  long  in  one  spot.  Accordingly,  towards  April, 
he  journeyed  off  to  Philadelphia,  then  made  his  way  as  a  pedes- 
trian to  Pittsburg,  and  descending  the  Ohio  in  a  batteau — not 
without  frequent  pursuits  from  the  Indians — he  went  and  offered 
himself  as  pastor  to  the  French  in  Illmois.  But  they  did  not 
accept  his  services ;  and  after  three  yeai's'  strife,  of  which  we 
shall  speak  in  connection  with  that  part,  he  descended  to  New 
Orleans  by  the  Wabash  and  Ohio.  There,  after  narrowly  es- 
caping death  from  a  serious  disorder,  the  Abbe  de  la  Valiniere 
took  passage  on  a  vessel  for  Havana ;  thence  visited  successively 
Florida,  Charleston,  Stonington,  and  New  York,  and  in  the 
month  of  October,  1790,  he  greatly  astonished  his  old  associates 
of  St.  Sulpice  by  asking  hospitality  from  them  at  Montreal.  He 
was  charitably  received ;  but  he  was  entreated  to  make  his  stay 

*  Campbell,  iu  U.  S.  Catholic  Magazine,  vi.  146. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATICS.  457 

as  short  as  possible,  as  tliey  did  not  wisn  to  compromise  them- 
felves  with  the  Enghsh  governmeut.  Before  the  close  of  the 
month  he  left  Montreal,  to  take  up  his  abode  on  the  banks  of 
Lake  Champlain,  near  Split  Rock  Bay,  where,  as  we  have  seen, 
some  of  the  Canadian  refugees  had  settled.  Here  Mr.  de  la 
Valiniere  built  a  chapel  and  house  for  himself,  and  of  his  own 
authoi'ity,  and,  Avithout  jurisdiction,  formed  a  parish.  After 
three  years'  stay,  he  set  his  parishioners  so  much  against  him, 
that,  to  get  rid  of  their  pastor,  they  set  fire  to  his  church  and 
house.  He  then  returned  to  Canada,  where  the  Seminary  of 
Montreal  gave  him  an  annual  pension  of  twenty-five  pounds,  on 
condition  that  he  would  remain  quietly  in  the  parish  of  St.  Sul- 
pice.  He  lived  till  1806,  preserving  to  the  close  his  restless 
chr.racter  and  singular  devotions,  combined  with  an  exemplary 
r.asterity  of  life.  He  was  killed  at  Repentigny,  by  a  fall  from  a 
wagon,  on  the  29th  of  June,  1806.'* 

Poetry,  as  he  understood  it,  was  his  great  consolation  in  his 
troubles;  and  in  1792,  while  residing  on  the  banks  of  Lake 
Champlain,  he  printed  at  Albany  a  poem  of  1644,  recounting 
his  adventures.  The  preface  is  to  the  air  of  the  Enfant  Prodigue, 
and  the  twelve  chaptei*s  that  follow  are  to  the  tune  of  the  air 
Folks  cVEspagne.  This  original  character  deserves  to  be  bet- 
ter known  in  America,  for  it  was  in  consequence  of  his  sympa- 
tliy  in  the  United  States,  that  the  Abbe  de  la  Valiniere  was  sub- 
jected to  numberless  trials  during  the  last  thirty  years  of  his 
life.f 

In  consequence  of  the  troubles  of  1838,  a  still  greater  Cana- 
dian emigration  to  New  York  and  Vermont  took  place  ;  and 
besides  these  political  causes,  there  is  a  regular  flow  of  emigra- 

*  Biographie  de  M.  de  la  Valiniere,  by  the  Very  Rev.  F.  X.  Noiseux,  for- 
merly Vicar-general  of  Quebec.  This  sketch  we  had  to  rectify  at  almost 
every  line,  by  documents  from  the  archives  of  the  See  of  Quebec. 

t  The  title  of  the  poem  is,  "  Vraie  histoire  ou  simple  precis  des  infor- 
tunes,  pour  ne  p£3  dire  des  persecutions  qu'a  souffert  et  souffre  uncore  la 


458  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

tion  from  Canada  to  New  England,  Northern  New  York,  and 
the  West. 

Bishop  Dubois,  as  we  have  seen,  began  a  college  at  Lafarge- 
villc,  which  would  have  rendered  great  service  to  the  Catholics 
of  that  part  of  the  State.  The  Canadian  emigrants  showed 
little  zeal,  but  when  Irish  settlers  began  to  make  it  their  home 
there  were  soon  applications  for  priests  and  attempts  to  build 
churches. 

Ogdensburg,  now  an  episcopal  see,  had  a  priest,  Rev.  Mr. 
Salmon,  in  1834,  and  he  was  the  only  one  in  what  is  now  a 
diocese.  By  the  year  1835  churches  were  in  existence  at  French 
Mills,  Waddington,  and  Malone.  The  next  few  years  saw  priests 
settled  at  Carthage,  Malone,  Plattsburg,  Champlain,  and  St. 
Regis.  Bishop  Hughes,  on  his  visitations,  was  surprised  at  the 
growth  of  Catholicit}^  in  this  part  of  the  State,  and  convinced  of 
the  necessity  of  new  episcopal  sees.  When  the  diocese  of  Albany 
wa^  created  in  1847,  there  were  in  this  district  six  churches  and 
ten  priests  who  visited  the  Catholics  in  some  twelve  places  re- 
gularly. 

Under  the  care  of  Bishop  McCloskey  of  Albany  religion  made 
rapid  progress  in  this  part.  When  the  Holy  See  resolved  to 
form  the  diocese  of  Ogdensburg,  which  includes  the  counties  of 
Lewis,  Jefferson,  St.  Lawrence,  Franklin,  Clinton  and  Essex,  with 


Rev,  Pierre  Huet  de  la  Valiniere,  mis  envers  par  lui-m6me  en  Juillet,  1792 
A  Albany,  imprime  aux  depens  de  I'auteur." 

The  reader  will  see  that  the  versifier  must  have  borne  the  expense  of  the 
puhlicatioii,  when  he  reads  such  couplets  as — 

"  La  Havane,  la  Floride  Espagnole, 
Charlestown,  et  Stonington,  et  New  York, 
N'ont  rien  pour  moi  qui  me  paraisse  drole. 
Je  pref&re  du  Canada  le  pore." 

In  1823,  the  house  which  he  occupied  at  St.  Sulpice  having  become  the 
Hotel  Robillard,  our  friend  Mr.  Jacques  Viger  stopping  there  one  night, 
found  the  woodwork  all  covered  with  little  medallions,  in  which  the  aged 
priest  had  written  verses  exhaling  his  griefs. 


IK  THE  UNITED  STATES.  459 

part  of  Ilerldraer  and  Hamilton,  there  were  some  forty  churches 
and  nearly  as  many  priests,  including  some  belonging  to  the 
order  of  Oblates,  who  had  begun  their  labors  at  Plattsburg. 
The  Gray  Nuns,  or  Sisters  of  Charity  of  Montreal,  had  thriving 
academics  and  parochial  schools  at  Plattsburg  and  Ogdensburg. 

The  Rev.  Edgar  P.  Wadhams  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Og- 
densburg, on  the  erection  of  the  see  by  Pope  Pius  IX.,  February 
15th,  1872,  and  was  consecrated  on  the  5th  of  May.  Under 
his  care  a  new  impulse  has  been  given  to  religion.  lie  intro- 
duced the  Augustinians  at  Carthage,  the  Franciscan  Fathers  at 
Croghan,  the  Missionaries  of  the  Sacred  Heart  at  Watertown, 
the  Clerks  of  St.  Viateur,  who  established  an  academy  for  boys 
at  Ogdensburg  and  direct  parochial  schools.  The  Sisters  of  the 
Third  Order  of  St.  Francis  also  began  to  open  schools. 

By  the  year  1878  the  diocese  of  Ogdensburg  had  79  churches, 
and  48  stations  where  mass  was  said  regularly,  51  priests,  8 
convents,  and  a  Catholic  population  of  55,000. 

We  have  taken  this  diocese  first  as  it  connects  so  intimately 
with  the  earlier  efforts  of  the  Church  from  Canada,  and  the 
large  Canadian  element  still  found  there. 

DIOCESE   OF   ALBA:t;rY. 

Under  the  Dutch  rule  we  find  no  trace  of  Catholics  in  or  near 
Albany.  When  the  territory  passed  to  the  power  of  the  Duke  of 
York,  Major  Brocholst,  a  Catholic,  was  stationed  at  Albany  ; 
and  the  language  of  Hennepin  leads  us  to  infer  that  there  were 
some  Catholic  settlers.  They  must  have  disappeared  soon  after ; 
and,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution,  the  Catholic 
Highlanders  in  the  Mohawk  Valley  were  the  only  nucleus  of 
the  faithful ;  and,  under  the  strong  "  No  Popery"  feeling  that 
prevailed,  and  which  proscribed  Catholics  in  the  Constitution 
adopted,  the  Scotch  Catholics  took  alarm,  and^  abandoning  their 
farms,  emigrated,  with  their  priest,  to  Canada,  where  their  reli- 
gion was  protected. 


460  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

After  the  war  the  Capouchin  Father,  Charles  Whelan,  who 
had  been  the  first  pastor  of  St.  Petei's  congregation  in  New  York 
City,  retired  to  the  vicinity  of  Johnstowi),  and  was  there  about 
1790.  Some  six  years  Later  another  member  of  the  same  order. 
Father  Flynn,  began  to  visit  the  Catholics  between  Albany  and 
Fort  Stanwix,  and  estimated  that  there  were  at  that  time  several 
hundred  Catholic  families  in  that  district. 

Subsequent  to  this  other  priests,  among  others  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Matthew  O'Brien,  Rev.  Messrs.  Mahony  and  Fitzsim- 
mons,  hibored  in  or  around  Albany.  This  kept  Catholicity  alive 
at  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  as  early  as  1798  we  find  them 
erecting  a  church  in  which  to  worship  God  according  to  the 
faith  of  their  fathers.  Thomas  Barry  and  Louis  Le  Couteulx 
are  mentioned  as  founders,  and  their  names  are  connected  with 
early  Catholicity  in  other  parts.  A  notice  in  the  Albany  Gazette 
informs  us  that  the  contributions  for  its  erection  came  not  only 
from  the  Catholics  of  Albany  and  their  fellow-citizens,  but  from 
the  liberal  in  other  cities  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  It 
was  under  roof,  glazed,  and  floored  early  in  September,  and  we 
are  informed  by  the  papers  of  the  day  "  that  \t  is  a  neat  building, 
and  will  be  an  ornament  to  the  city  and  a  lasting  blessing  to  all 
who  are  members  in  communion  of  that  church."  In  their  ap- 
peal to  the  Catholics  generally  for  means  to  complete  it,  the 
founders  say :  "  Such  of  our  Catholic  brethren  in  this  neighbor- 
hood as  have  not  already  contributed,  it  is  hoped  w^ill  now  come 
forward  and  ofi"er  their  mite  to  discharge  the  last  payment  of 
the  contract,  there  being  but  a  small  sum  in  hand  for  that  pur- 
pose. To  give  to  the  Church,  is  it  not  to  lend  to  the  Lord,  who 
will  richly  repay  the  liberal  giver  with  many  blessings  ?  Should 
not  all  the  members  unitedly  raise  their  voices  in  praise  to  God, 
who  has  cast  their  lot  in  this  good  land,  where  our  Church  is 
equally  protected  with  others,  and  where  we  all  so  bountifully 
partake  of  His  goodness  ?    What  is  ^7^iln  without  religion,  which 


Iiq"  THE  UNITED  STATES.  4G1 

teaclies  us  the  love  of  God  and  our  neighbor  and  to  be  in  charity 
tvith  all  mankind  ?     Surely  without  this  he  is  nothing."* 

As  appears  by  the  names  of  the  founders,  the  first  Catholics 
were  P'rench  and  Irish,  and  among  the  former  we  may  mention 
Count  de  la  Tour  de  Pin  and  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  Count  Dil- 
lon, of  the  Irish  brigade,  who,  after  serving  in  Rochambeau's 
army  during  our  Revolution,  perished  in  the  Reign  of  Terror.f 

The  resident  clergyman  under  whose  impulse  this  church  rose 
seems  to  have  been  the  Rev.  John  Thayer,  of  Boston,  whose  con- 
version to  the  faith  was  one  of  the  earliest  triumphs  of  religion 
here.  His  stay  was,  however,  short,  and  in  the  following  year 
w^e  find  him  in  Kentucky,  and  in  1800  the  Rev.  Dr.  Matthew 
O'Brien  seems  to  have  been  stationed  there,  as  he  preached  the 
funeral  oration  on  Washington  in  the  church  in  the  month  oi 
February,  and  officiated  there  later  in  the  year.J 

About  1807  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bushe  was  stationed  here,  and,  we 
believe,  died  on  the  mission ;  but  when  Father  Kohlmann,  as 
vicar-general,  was  charged  with  the  aff"airs  of  the  newly-formed 
diocese  of  New  York,  Albany  seems  to  have  been  without  a 
priest,  and  on  the  1st  of  May,  1811,  we  find  him  entreating  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  O.  Plessis,  Bishop  of  Quebec,  to  send  missiona- 
ries into  the  State  of  New  York.§     Soon  after,  however,  the 

*  We  are  indebted  for  these  extracts  to  E.  B.  O'Callaghan,  Esq.,  so  well 
known  for  his  historical  works.  As  he  informs  ws,  the  corner-stone  of  the 
church  bears  the  following  inscription : 

(Skull.)  I.  H.  S.  (Cross-bones.) 

Thomas  Barry,  I  Founders. 

Louis  Le  Couteulx,  ) 

E.  C.  Qdin,  Master  Builder. 

A.  D.  1798. 

t  Watson,  Memoirs.    Memoirs  du  Due  de  la  Eochefoucauld. 

X  Information  given  us  by  Dr.  E,  B.  O'Cahaghan  and  C.  J.  Cannon,  Esq. 
See  Spaldinfj's  Sketches  of  Kentucky,  p.  78.  A  full  account  of  the  Kev.  Mr. 
Thayer  will  be  given  under  the  diocese  of  Boston. 

§  Archives  of  tlie  Diocese  of  Quebec,  foi  the  examination  of  which  we  ara 
indebted  to  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Ferland. 


4-G2  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  i 

Rev.  Mr.  McQuaid  was  stationed  there,  but  on  the  arrival  of 
Bishop  Connolly,  that  clergyman  resolved  to  return  to  Ireland, 
notwithstanding  the  urgent  appeals  of  the  newly-appointed 
bishop.  For  a  time  Albany  was  without  a  pastor,  but  the  good 
bishop  sent  up  the  Rev.  Michael  O'Gorman,  little  as  he  could 
spare  him  from  New  York.  This  clergyman  not  only  served 
Albany,  but  extended  his  labors  to  the  Indians  at  St.  Regis,  visit- 
ing on  the  way  the  scattered  Catholics  in  various  parts,  saying 
Mass,  instructing,  and  baptizing. 

In  1822  the  Rev.  Michael  Carroll  was  pastor  of  Albany,  visit- 
ing also  Troy,  Lansingburg,  Johnstown,  and  Schenectady.  Since 
then  it  has  had  a  regular  succession  of  pastors,  many  of  them 
men  of  remarkable  devotedness  and  zeal.  Just  at  the  period  of 
Bishop  Dubois'  appointment,  the  Catholics  of  Albany  were  en- 
deavoring to  erect  a  new  and  larger  church,  but  met  with  such 
diflSculties  that  they  succeeded  in  completing  it  only  by  aid 
which  he  obtained  from  the  Association  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Faith.*  As  his  clergy  increased,  he  placed  pastors  in  the 
neighboring  cities,  and  the  Rev.  John  Shanahan  was  for  many 
years  the  devoted  pastor  of  Troy,  visiting  also  Lansingburg, 
where  a  number  of  Catholics  had  gathered. 

About  1830  the  Sisters  of  Charity  came  to  Albany,  and  as- 
sumed the  charge  of  the  orphan  asylum  and  schools,  which  they 
have  continued  to  direct  to  the  present  time. 

The  Catholics  in  this  diocese  are  more  widely  scattered  than 
in  that  of  New  York,  and  we  find  them  from  an  early  period 
gathering  at  certain  points,  of  which  we  shall  give  a  few  brief 
notices  before  commencing  an  account  of  the  labors  of  the  amia 
ble  prelate  who  fills  the  See  of  Albany. 

St.  James'  Church,  at  Carthage,  was  built  in  the  year  1819  by 
James  Leray,  Esq.,  a  Catholic  gentleman,  who  owned  a  large 

*  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  iv.  451. 


IN"  THE  UN"ITED  STATES.  4G3 

property  there,  to  which  he  drew  many  Catholic  settlers,  who^ 
with  their  descendants,  still  occupy  the  spot,  directed  by  a  cler- 
gyman brought  up  in  their  midst.  Having  had  the  advantage 
of  living  together  under  the  shadow  of  the  Church,  they  are  ag 
faithful  to  their  religion  as  though  they  lived  in  the  most  favored 
Catholic  country.  By  their  industry  most  are  now  easy  farmers, 
owning  the  greater  part  of  two  townships,  and  numbering  about 
ten  thousand.  Their  schools,  made  up  exclusively  of  Catholics, 
are  well  attended  and  well  conducted.* 

Utica  was  another  point  where  the  Catholics  centered  and 
have  increased  prosperously.  John  C.  Devereux,  and  his  wife's 
family,  the  Barrys,  from  Albany,  settled  here  about  1800,  and 
were  joined  a  few  years  later  by  Nicholas  Devereux,  whose  recent 
loss  is  so  much  deplored.  This  little  band  of  Catholics  seems  to 
have  been  first  visited  about  1813  or  1814  by  a  clergyman  from 
Albany,  probably  the  Rev.  Mr.  McQuaid,  and  he  certainly  visited 
them  occasionally  down  to  the  period  of  his  departure  for  Ire- 
land. On  Sundays  the  Catholics  generally  met  to  read  Mass 
prayers,  though  many  attended  Protestant  meetings.  At  last,  on 
the  10th  of  January,  1819,  after  hearing  Mass  celebrated  by  the 
Rev.  Michael  O'Gorman,  the  Catholics  prepared  to  incorporate 
themselves  according  to  law,  and  on  the  25th,  John  O'Connor, 
John  C.  Devereux  and  Nicholas  Devereux  of  Utica,  Morris  Hogan 
of  New  Hartford,  Oliver  Weston,  Thomas  McCarthy,  and  James 
Lynch  of  Salina,  John  McGuire  of  Rochester,  and  Charles  Car- 
roll of  Genesee  River,  were  duly  elected  "  Trustees  of  the  First 
Catholic  Church  in  the  "Western  District  of  New  York."  Pur- 
chasing three  lots  of  ground,  they  collected  means  and  erected  a 
church,  designed  in  very  good  taste,  which  cost  about  four  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  Devereux  were  the  chief  benefactors  of  it, 
contributing  more  than  a  fourth  of  the  amount,  and  many  Prot- 

*  Information  from  Eev.  M.  E.  Clark. 


4G4  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

estants  contributing  liberally,  for  the  nnmber  of  Catholics  waa 
small. 

The  first  pastor  at  Utica  was  the  Rev.  John  Farnan,  who  vis- 
ited also  the  Catholics  of  Western  New  York,  and  even  beyond 
the  frontier  of  the  United  States.  St.  James',  at  Cai'thage,  was 
also  visited  by  him,  and  he  attended  the  various  stations  along 
the  Erie  Canal.  His  career  here  was  not  exemplary,  and  his 
faculties  were  withdrawn.  The  Rev.  Richard  Bulger,  a  holy  and 
apostolic  man,  and  the  Rev.  John  Shanahan,  whom  we  have  seen 
laboring  at  Troy,  were  next  stationed  at  Utica,  where  the  latter 
is  still  remembered  for  his  zeal  and  disinterestedness.  A  number 
of  other  clergymen  followed,  all  for  brief  periods,  inasmuch  as 
here,  too,  trustees  claimed  to  hold  all,  and  frequently  deprived 
the  pastor  of  a  competent  support.  By  such  ill-judged  conduct 
they  deprived  the  Catholics  of  Utica  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cummings 
and  Rev.  James  B.  Cahill,  two  accomplished  clergymen,  who 
came  from  France  in  1830  in  consequence  of  the  revolution  of 
July,  which  raised  Louis  Philippe  to  the  throne.  The  Rev.  Wal- 
ter J.  Quarter,  afterwards  x\dministrator  and  Vicar-general  of  the 
diocese  of  Chicago,  at  last  became  pastor,  and  first  gave  stability 
to  affairs  at  Utica;  yet  even  then  the  trustees  would  not  grant 
any  salary  to  his  assistant,  the  Rev.  Wm.  Beecham. 

In  1834  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  under  Sister  St.  Etienne  as 
Sister  Servant,  came  to  Utica  to  take  charge  of  an  asylum  and 
girls'  school,  erected  by  the  Messrs.  Devereux  at  an  expense  of 
nearly  ten  thousand  dollars.  They,  on  a  subsequent  occasion,  by 
a  liberal  yearly  contribution,  enabled  the  Sisters  to  remain  when 
want  of  support  was  compelling  them  also  to  retire. 

The  church  at  Utica  proving  too  small,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Quarter, 
in  1835,  undertook  the  erection  of  a  new  one,  in  which  he  hap- 
pily succeeded.  Mass  being  said  in  the  new  edifice  for  the  first 
time  on  Christmas-day  in  the  following  year.  Among  the  cler- 
gymen who  were  from  time  to  time  assistants  of  Mr.  Quarter 


IN"  THE  UNITED  STATES.  4G5 

were  two  who  have  since  been  raised  to  the  episcopacy — the  Rt 
Rev.  D.  W.  Bacon,  now  Bishop  of  Porthmd,  and  the  Rt.  Rev. 
John  Longlilin,  now  Bishop  of  Brooklyn. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Martin,  of  the  Order  of  Preachers,  was  pas- 
tor from  1841  to  1845,  and  distinguished  himself  by  his  zealous 
etibits  to  put  down  intemperance,  and  for  an  earnest  protest 
against  the  intolerance  of  the  State  government,  which  forced  the 
employees  in  the  State  Lunatic  Asylum  to  attend  Protestant 
worship.  By  this  time  many  of  the  stations  served  from  Utica 
had  become  parishes,  with  churches  and  pastors  of<*their  own.^ 
Rome,  visited  in  1836  by  the  Rev.  William  Beecham,  a  graduate 
of  Carlow  College,  had  by  1840  exchanged  the  cooper's  loft  for 
the  modest  church  of  St.  Peter's,  which  became  a  centre  from 
which  the  pastor  visited  a  district  of  a  hundred  miles  around 
him.  Churches  arose,  too,  at  Verona,  Oneida,  Florence,  Consta- 
bleville,  Waterville,  and  West  Utica,  so  that  Central  New  York 
began  to  blossom  like  a  garden  with  the  flowers  of  Catholic  faith 
and  piety .f 

Salina,  now  a  part  of  Syracuse,  had  a  church  in  1829,  due  to 
the  exertions  of  James  Lynch,  Esq.,  and  Thomas  McCarthy,  Esq. 
It  was  occasionally  attended  from  Utica  till  1832,  when  the  Rev. 
Francis  O'Donoghue  was  appointed  the  first  resident  pastor. 
From  1839  it  has  been  the  field  of  the  labors  of  the  Rev.  Michael 
Heas,  who  has  seen  many  others  grow  up  around  him.  The 
Catholics  of  Syracilse,  among  others,  purchased  a  lot  in  1842,  to 
which  they  removed  an  Episcopalian  church  similarly  purchased. 

By  this  time,  too,  Schenectady,  Sandy  Hill,  Keeseville,  Malone, 
Binghamton,  Little  Falls,  and  Saratoga  had  their  churches  and 
resident  pastors ;  and  so  extensive  had  become  the  followers  of 
Catholicity  in  that  part  of  the  State,  that  the  Holy  See  resolved 

*  Memoir  furnished  by  the  kindness  of  the  Eev.  F.  P.  McFarland. 
t  Information  derived  from  tlie  Kev.  Wm.  Beecham,  the  pioneer  pastor 
of  Eome. 


466  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

to  erect  tbat  p(jrtion  into  a  new  diocese,  tlie  See  of  whicli  slioul^^ 
be  Albany.  The  diocese  is  bounded  on  the  north  and  east  by 
the  hmits  of  the  State,  and  extends  westward  to  the  eastern 
limits  of  Cayuga,  Tompkins,  and  Tioga  counties,  and  southward 
to  the  forty-second  degree. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  John  McCloskey,  born  at  Brooklyn,  and  actually 
coadjutor  of  the  Bishop  of  New  York,  was  transferred  in  1847  to 
the  new  See  of  Albany,  which  he  has  ever  since  governed  with 
the  greatest  harmony  and  advantage  to  the  cause  of  religion. 
On  taking  possession  of  his  See,  Albany  contained  St.  Mary's, 
which  became  his  cathedral,  with  three  other  churches,  one  of 
them  exclusively  for  the  Germans.  The  orphan  asylum  of  St. 
Vincent  had  from  about  1830  been  under  the  charge  of  the  Sis- 
ters of  Charity  from  Emmetsburg,  who  also  directed  a  school  for 
girls.  The  remainder  of  his  diocese  contained  about  forty 
churches  and  less  than  that  number  of  clergymen.  The  zealous 
prelate  immediately  devoted  himself  to  the  task  of  endowing  his 
diocese  with  all  that  the  wants  of  the  faithful  required.  This  task 
has  been  the  more  difficult,  as  the  Catholics  are  scattered,  few  of 
them  wealthy,  and  prejudices  against  them  more  bitter  than  in 
parts  where  Catholics  and  Protestants  are  constantly  in  contact 
with  each  other.  Under  his  impulse  Troy  founded  an  orphan 
asylum  confided  to  the  Sisters  of  Chanty,  and  in  1851  the  bishop 
had  the  happiness  of  securing  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian 
Schools,  who  opened  at  Troy  the  Academy  of  St.  Joseph,  and  at 
the  same  time  assumed  the  direction  of  a  second  orphan  asylupi, 
intended  exclusively  for  boys.^' 

The  Sisters  of  Charity,  thus  relieved  of  a  part  of  their  labors, 
sought  a  new  field  for  their  devotedness,  and  in  the  same  year 


*It  now  contains  245  boys  under  the  charge  of  the  Christian  Brothers  ; 
the  ghis'  school,  under  the  charge  of  Sisters  of  Charity,  has  350  girls  and 
li3  orphans. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  467 

opened  a  hospital,  which  has  been  of  signal  service  to  the  city, 
no  less  than  seven  hundred  and  eighty-nine  patients  having  been 
received  into  it  in  one  year. 

To  give  Lis  diocese  an  institution  in  which  young  ladies 
might  obtain  a  higher  degree  of  education  than  the  schools 
ah-eady  in  operation  afforded,  Bishop  McCloskey  applied,  and 
not  unsuccessfully,  to  the  Ladies  of  tbe  Sacred  Heart.  A  colony 
of  that  order  arrived  in  Albany  in  1852,  and  opened  an  academy 
in  a  central  and  agreeable  position.  The  high  standard  of  in- 
struction afforded  by  these  pious  followers  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
has  here,  as  in  all  other  parts,  met  with  general  appreciation. 
The  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools  meanwhile  extended  the 
institutions  of  their  order  in  the  diocese.  In  1854  they  assumed 
the  direction  of  a  newasylum  for  boys,  erected  by  the  bishop  on 
a  farm  about  a  mile  from  his  cathedral,  and  in  the  following 
year  opened  a  large  academy  at  Utica,  which  cost  over  seven- 
teen thousand  dollars,  and  is  due  chiefly  to  the  zealous  exertions 
of  the  late  Nicholas  Devereux  of  that  city. 

The  churches  and  clergymen  in  the  diocese  have  increased  in 
proportion  to  the  other  institutions.  The  churches  in  1856  rose 
to  eighty -seven,  with  nine  more  in  process  of  erection.  The  clergy 
were  then  seventy -four,  among  whom  are,  as  we  have  seen, 
several  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Oblates  of  Mary  Immaculate,  in 
charge  of  the  French  parishes  in  the  north  of  the  State,  and 
Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  wlio  direct  St.  Joseph's  Church 
at  Troy  and  a  German  church  at  Syracuse. 

The  Congregation  of  Missionaries  (Oblates)  was  founded  in 
1815  at  Aix,  in  Provence,  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Jose^^h  Eugene 
Mazenod,  now  Bishop  of  Marseilles.  Feehng  himself  called  to  do- 
vote  himself  to  the  spiritual  service  of  the  poor  and  prisoners,  he 
began  regular  instructions  in  the  churches  and  visits  to  the 
prisons.    Others  soon  joined  him,  and  in  order  to  consolidate  the 


4:(j8  the  catholic  church 

work,  lie  drew  up  constitutions  and  rules.  The  fathers  beheld 
in  these  the  will  of  God,  aud  applied  themselves  to  attain  ren- 
gious  perfection  by  close  adherence  to  them.  The  prelates  of 
Provence  and  Dauphiny  all  approved  the  new  institute,  and  urged 
the  founder  to  solicit  the  confirmation  of  his  rule  by  the  Holy 
See.  After  a  long  examination  by  a  congregation  of  cardinals, 
Pope  Leo  XII.  solemnly  approved  the  institute  and  rule  on  the 
17th  of  April,  1826,  and  the  missionaries  received  from  the  Holy 
Father  himself  the  name  of  Oblate  Missionaries  of  Mary  con- 
ceived without  sin.  Letters  apostolic,  by  an  exception  made  in 
their  favor,  were  issued  on  the  21st  of  March  in  the  same  year, 
canonically  establishing  the  congregation. 

Their  objects  are,  parish  missions,  the  direction  of  theological 
seminaries,  the  spiritual  direction  of  young  men,  the  poor,  prison- 
ers, and  those  in  special  need  of  instruction ;  and  lastly,  the  for- 
eign missions.  Like  the  Society  of  Jesus,  they  place  their  ser- 
vices in  a  special  manner  at  the  command  of  the  Vicar  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  are  ever  ready  to  repair  to  any  part  of  the  world  for 
the  good  of  religion. 

The  Congregation  had  spread  to  various  parts  of  France, 
Switzerland,  Savoy,  and  Sardinia,  when,  in  1841,  the  Right  Rev. 
Ignatius  Bourget,  Bishop  of  Montreal,  sohcited  a  colony  for  his 
diocese.  While  the  order  afterwards  spread  I'apidly  in  Europe, 
it  assumed  a  no  less  remarkable  development  in  America.  A 
novitiate  was  opened  at  Montreal,  which  many  devoted  clergy- 
men entered,  and  ere  long  the  Oblate  missionaries  were  directing 
institutions  of  learning,  and  exercising  the  holy  ministry  wherever 
the  need  was  the  greatest.  The  Indian  missions  especially  at- 
tracted them,  and  from  the  Saguenay  to  the  Pacific  they  may 
now  be  found,  laboring  to  evangelize  the  aborigines.  Already 
has  this  now  order  furnished  the  ancient  Church  of  Canada 
with  two  zealous  prelates.     Of  their  entrance  into  New  Ycik, 


IK  THE  UNITED  STATES.  4G9 

and  their  labors  among  the  foreaken  Canadians,  we  have  ah'eady 
spoken.'^ 

Before  leaving  the  diocese  of  Albany,  we  cannot  omit  re- 
counting a  conversion  which  brought  many  Protestants  of  Onon 
daga  into  the  Church.  Syracuse,  the  chief  place  of  the  county 
numbered  among  its  earHest,  and  still  among  its  most  influential 
residents,  the  families  of  Lynch  and  McCarth}^,  by  whose  zeal 
chiefly  the  house  of  God  has  been  erected  and  upheld.  Yet 
Catholicity  was  all  but  unknown.  One  evening  in  the  spring  of 
1836,  an  Irish  peddler,  urging  his  horse  and  wagon  through  the 
miry   roads,  broke  down    not  far  from  the  house    of   Colonel 

D ,  a  wealthy  farmer,  near  Pompey.      With  the   friendly 

feeling  usual  in  the  country,  the  colonel  went  out  to  offer  his  as- 
sistance; but  it  was  evident  that  the  harness  needed  repairs, 
which  would  detain  him  till  morning.  He  accordingly  invited 
the  peddler  to  pass  the  night  there  :  the  latter  accepted  the  kindly 
welcome,  and  after  stabling  his  horse,  entered  the  house.  Sup- 
per was  scarcely  ended,  when  Mrs. began  to  feel  anxious 

about  his  remaining;  for  the  man  was  Irish,  evidently,  and  prob- 
ably a  Catholic.  The  peddler,  little  aware  of  the  terror  he  was 
causing,  freely  avowed  his  faith,  and  now  nothing  could  exceed 
the  distress  of  the  gentleman  and  his  wife.  Too  good-hearted  to 
turn  the  man  out,  they  prepared  themselves  for  some  terrible 
mishap.  The  colonel  talked  with  him  for  a  time  on  religious 
matters,  but  the  peddler  was  not  able  to  give  such  explanations 
as  he  needed.  When  bedtime  came,  he  was  carefully,  but  si- 
lently, locked  in  the  kitchen,  and  the  family  retired  to  uneasy 
beds.     On  departing  the  next  morning,  after  having  repaired  the 

accident,  the  peddler  offered  Mr.  D a  small  book  on  the 

Catholic  religion,  which,  with  some  others,  formed  part  of  his 
Btock ;  and,  thanking  him  for  his  hospitality,  journeyed  on.     The 

^ __ — 

*  Annales  de  hi  Propagation  de  la  Yoi,  xii.  281. 


470  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

colonel  read  the  book,  and  was  filled  with  surprise  and  astonish- 
ment :  he  induced  his  wife  to  take  it  up  ;  she  was  no  less 
amazed.  Catholicity,  as  Catholics  know  and  practise  it,  ,was, 
she  saw,  as  different  from  Catholicity  portrayed  by  Protestant 
ministers  and  tracts,  as  day  is  from  night.  When  the  peddler 
returned,  they  took  such  other  books  as  he  had,  and  finding,  in 
the  end  of  one,  a  catalogue  of  Catholic  books,  they  ordered  them 
from  New  York.  Conviction  began  to  dawn  upon  their  minds 
that  the  Reformation  was  a  mere  human  act,  entirely  unauthor- 
ized by  any  divine  commission,  and  completely  at  variance  with 
Christ's  promises.  They  consulted  the  Presbyterian  minister  to 
whose  church  they  had  belonged,  but  were  so  far  from  being 
satisfied  with  his  explanations,  that  they  lost  no  occasion  of 
proving  to  their  neighbors  that  the  Reformation  was  all  wrong. 
Provoked  at  this,  the  minister  had  them  both  arraigned  for  here- 
sy, and  formally  cut  off  from  the  communion  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

They  now  entered  into  correspondence  with  a  Catholic  clergy- 
man, and  all  doubts  being  soon  cleared  away,  they  were  baptized 
at  Utica,  on  Christmas-day,  1836.  Many  other  members  of  their 
family  and  neighbors  imitated  their  example,  and  in  less  than  a 
year  sixteen  persons  abjured  Protestantism,  and  embraced  the 
faith.  Others  have  since  joined  this  nucleus  of  the  faithful ;  and 
thus,  by  a  special  providence  of  God,  a  number  of  Protestants, 
amid  a  population  embittered  against  Catholics  by  prejudices 
and  falsehoods,  which  designing  men  even  now,  in  the  light  of 
boasted  freedom,  are  not  ashamed  to  perpetuate,  were  led,  with- 
out even  hearing  the  words  of  a  priest,  into  the  very  Church  of 
Christ. 

On  the  promotion  of  Bishop  McCloskey  to  the  Metropolitan 
See  of  New  York,  in  May,  1804,  he  left  the  diocese  in  a  condi- 
tion of  healthful  progress.  The  district  assigned  to  his  special 
care   in    1847   contained    only    20  churches  and   34   priests  ; 


m  THE  UKITED  STATES.  471 

nearly  100  churches  liad  been  erected  attliemost  needed  points, 
and  there  were  95  priests  ministering  to  the  wants  of  the  faith- 
ful. Schools  had  been  established  or  were  projected  ;  commu- 
nities of  religious  of  both  sexes  were  engaged  in  their  peculiar 
woiks  of  charity,  and  candidates  for  the  priesthood  were  pre- 
paiing  to  increase  the  ranks  of  the  clergy. 

The  Very  Rev.  John  J.  Conroy  was  appointed  administrator, 
and,  having  been  raised  to  the  mitre  in  July,  was  consecrated  Oc- 
tober loth,  18G5.  Undjr  his  care  churches  and  clergy  increased, 
the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Name  of  Jesus  and  Mary  were  introduced 
into  the  dioce?e,  to  direct  schools  at  Schenectady  and  Rome. 
The  health  of  the  bishop,  however,  was  unequal  to  the  burthen, 
and,  in  1871,  the  Rev.  Francis  McNeirney,  of  New  York,  was 
appointed  coadjutor.  He  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Rhesina  in 
partihus,  April  ^Ist,  1872,  and  aided  the  cause  of  religion  as 
coadjutor  till  January  18ih,  1874,  when  he  was  appointed  ad- 
ministrator, and  assumed  the  whole  direction  of  the>  diocese, 
which  he  has  since  governed.  In  1872,  the  diocese  of  Ogdens- 
bnrg  was  formed,  embracing  the  counties  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  Lake  Champlain,  but,  although  thus  reduced,  the  diocese  of 
Albany,  in  1878,  had  1G4  churches  and  157  priests,  with  a  Ca- 
tholic population  of  about  200,000.  The  Sisters  of  the  Presen- 
tation, the  Sisters  of  Christian  Charity,  and  the  Little  Sisters  of 
the  Poor  have  been  introduced;  other  orders  have  extended 
their  usefulness,  and  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  have 
op.^ned  a  college  in  Troy. 

On  the  IGth  of  October,  1877,  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Conroy 
resigned,  and  I)r,  McNeirny  became  Bishop  of  Albany. 


4,72  THE  CATHOLIC  CIIUP.CH 

DIOCESE    or  BUFFALO. 

On  the  division  of  the  State,  a  see  was  fixed  also  at  Buffalo, 
with  a  diocese  comprising  Cayuga,  Tompkins,  and  Tioti'a  coun- 
ties, and  all  those  west  of  them.  To  fill  this  See,  the  choice  ol 
the  Holy  See  fell  upon  the  Rev.  John  Timon,  a  priest  of  the 
Congregation  of  the  Missions.  Born  in  Missouri,  he  at  an  early 
age  entered  the  novitiate  at  the  Barrens,  and  while  still  a  di\inity 
hludent,  commenced  a  public  course  of  controversy  in  reply  to 
the  attacks  of  some  Protestant  clergymen.  Soon  after  his  or- 
dination, when  the  Rev.  Mr.  Green,  a  Protestant  minister,  inter- 
fered between  him  and  a  poor  culprit  whom  he  had  converted 
and  baptized,  he  challenged  the  minister  to  a  public  discussion, 
and  completely  silenced  him.  His  missionary  career  w^as  most 
varied  ;  and  Texas,  especially,  may  regard  him  as  the  founder  of 
its  present  Catholic  establishments,  while  hardly  a  city  of  the 
West  has  not  felt  the  effect  of  his  missions  and  retreats.  At 
the  time  of  his  nomination  to  the  See  of  Buffalo,  he  was  Yisitoi 
of  his  Congregation  in  the  United  States,  and  had  twice  assisted 
as  Superior  in  the  sessions  of  the  Provincial  Councils  at  Balti- 
more. He  was  consecrated  at  New  York  on  the  lYth  of  Octo- 
ber, 1847,  and  on  the  23d  arrived  in  Buffalo,  accompanied  by 
the  Right  Rev.  Bishops  Hughes,  Wa"lsh,  and  McCloskey.  Here 
he  was  enthusiastically  received  by  a  large  body  of  Catholics, 
who  escorted  their  prelate  in  procession  to  the  Church  of  St. 
Louis,  where  he  bestowed  upon  them  his  episcopal  benedic- 
tion. 

The  portion  committed  to  his  care  was  the  last  settled  in  the 
State,  and  Catholicity  is  there  of  more  recent  date.  The  old 
French  fort  at  Niagara,  begun  originally  in  December,  1678,  by 
the  celebrated  explorer,  La  Salle,  as  one  of  his  line  of  posts,  jiad 
been  more  or  less  regularly  attended  by  chaplains  from  that 
date.  It  was  visited,  in  1679,  by  the  romantic  Father  Hennepin, 
of  the  Order  of  Recollects,  or  Reformed  Franciscans,  and  by  the 


IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  473 

still  more  distinguished  Fathers  Gabriel  do  la  Kibourde  and 
Zenobe  Membre,  of  the  same  order,  both  martyrs  to  their  zeal  in 
endeavoring  to  plant  the  faith  amid  the  wilderness.*  Here,  on 
his  departure  for  the  West,  La  Salle  left  as  chaplain  another 
Kecollect,  Father  Melitlion  Watteau,  with  a  small  party.  Hither 
La  Salle  returned  on  foot,  baffled,  but  not  discouraged,  in  x\pril, 
1680;  and  he  set  out  from  it  again  in  1G82,  on  his  memorable 
expedition,  which  had  the  glory  of  first  descending  the  Missis- 
sippi to  its  mouth.  On  the  disastrous  end  of  La  Salle,  his  post 
at  Niagara  was  abandoned,  and  the  Jesuit  missionaries  in  the 
Seneca  country,  of  wdiom  we  have  spoken  elsewhere,  were  the 
only  priests  of  Catholicity  in  Western  New  York.  In  1687,  the 
Marquis  de  Denonville,  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  Governor  Don- 
gan,  took  possession  of  the  spot  in  July,  and  began  to  rebuild 
the  fort.  Denonville  had  just  returned  from  his  expedition 
against  the  Senecas,  and  restored  Niagara,  as  a  check  upon  them. 
The  Jesuit  Father  John  de  Lamberville  was  the  first  chaplain  of 
the  new  fort,  having  reached  it  in  September,  1687.  But  the 
garrison,  closely  blockaded  by  the.  Indians,  was  attacked  by  the 
scurvy,  and  the  missionary,  sick  himself,  was  dragged  on  the  ice 
to  Fort  Frontenac,  which  he  reached  almost  in  a  dying  condi- 
tion. He  w^as  succeeded  by  Father  Peter  Milet,  who  remained 
till  the  evacuation  of  the  fort  in  September,  1688.  The  official 
account  of  the  commandant  at  that  time  states  that  he  demol- 
ished the  ramparts,  leaving  the  houses  and  cabins,  in  order  to 
prove  possession,  and,  in  the  midst  of  the  fort,  a  cross  eighteen 
feet  high,  w^hich  the  officers  had  planted  on  Good  Friday,  after 
it  had  been  solemnly  blessed  by  Father  Milet.  This  cross  bore 
the  inscription,  "  Christus  vincit,  Christus  regnat,  Christus  im- 
perat ;"  and  it  remained  to  foretell  the  future  triumphs  of  reli- 
gion, where,  almost  beneath  its  shadow,  now  rises  the   noble 


*  Shea,  History  of  the  Catholic  Missions,  412,  434. 
21 


474  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

Cathedral  of  Buffalo.  The  chaplain's  cabin  is  thus  described : 
"  The  Rev.  Father  Milet's  cabin,  furnished  with  its  chimney,  win- 
dows and  sashes,  shelves,  a  bedstead  and  four  boards  arranged 
inside,  with  a  door  furnished  with  its  fastenings  and  hinges,  the 
whole  cabin  being  made  of  twenty-four  boards."* 

In  1*721  the  French  resumed  possession  of  Niagara,  which  they 
held  till  the  fatal  battle  in  which  the  gallant  Aubry  was  defeated, 
in  his  attempt  to  relieve  it.  The  fort  then  surrendered,  in  l7o9. 
During  this  interval  of  thirty-eight  years,  the  fort  had  undoubt- 
edly a  Recollect  chaplain,  because  the  king  assigned  one  to  every 
fort  holding  over  forty  men,  and  the  garrison  at  Niagara  always 
exceeded  that  number.  We  do  not,  however,  find  any  mention- 
ed by  name,  except  the  celebrated  Father  Emmanuel  Crespel ; 
and  the  register  of  the  fort  is  unfortunately  lost,  having  probably 
been  carried  to  Albany  after  the  surrender-! 

The  Revolution  checked  the  progress  of  settlements  in  that 
part,  and  emigration  did  not  revive  till  the  close  of  the  century. 
The  number  of  Catholics  who  settled  here  continued  to  be  very 
small  for  many  years ;  and  these  were  long  without  a  pastor.  It 
was  not  till  Bishop  Connolly  took  possession  that  a  priest  was 
stationed  in  this  part  of  New  York;  and,  strange  as  it  may 
appear,  the  first  pastor  sent  to  seek  out  the  strayed  sheep  in 
that  district  is  still  alive,  and  in  the  exercise  of  the  ministry. 
This  is  the  Rev.  Patrick  Kelly,  who,  sent  to  the  West,  erected, 
about  1820,  St.  Patrick's  Church  in  Rochester,  then  a  small  vil- 


*  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  i.  243-275.  Colonial  Documents, 
ix.  387. 

t  Father  Emmanuel  Crespel,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis,  came  to  Canada 
in  1723,  was  cliaplain  at  Crown  Point,  and  then  at  Niagara.  He  also  visited 
Detroit,  and  attended  an  expedition  against  the  Fox  Indians  in  Wisconsin, 
in  1728.  He  set  sail  for  Europe  in  1742,  but  was  wrecked  at  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  Lawrence.  Those  who  reached  the  shore,  almost  all  perished  of 
cold  or  hunger.  Father  Crespel  survived,  and  on  his  return  to  Europe,  pub- 
liBhed  an  account  of  his  travels,  which  is  remarkably  interesting. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  475 

lage,  and  visited  various  stations  along  the  Erie  Canal,  as  for 
east  as  Auburn,  and  westward  to  Buftalo.*  The  Laity's  Directory 
for  1822  says,  "  In  Auburn,  an  agreeable  little  town,  there  is 
likewise  a  Catholic  church,  recently  erected."  The  Right  Rev. 
Bishop  Dubois  had,  as  we  have  seen,  found  no  church  in  Buffalo 
in  1829,  but  blessed  the  ground  for  St.  Louis  Church,  given  to 
him  by  William  B.  Le  Couteulx,  Esq.  "Here,"  he  writes  at  the 
time,  "  I  found  seven  or  eight  hundred  Catholics,  French,  Cana- 
dians, Swiss,  and  Irish,  instead  of  fifty  or  sixty,  as  I  had  been  inform- 
ed. Althouo'h  I  did  not  understand  German,  I  was  obliared  to  hear 
the  confessions  of  two  hundred  Swiss,  who  understood  neither 
English  nor  French.  These  good  people  experienced  an  inex- 
pressible joy  at  being  enabled  to  approach  the  sacraments.  I 
celebrated  a  solemn  Mass  in  the  courthouse,  more  than  eight 
hundred  Catholics  and  Protestants  being  present.  An  altar  had 
heen  erected  on  the  platform  where  the  judges  usually  sat. 
The  presence  of  a  bishop,  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice, 
the  number  of  communicants,  the  beauty  and  gravity  of  the 
chant,  the  administration  of  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  which  I 
conferred  on  thirty  or  forty  persons,  produced  a  general  emo- 
tion."! 

In  1834,  twelve  years  later,  so  slow  had  been  the  progress  ot 
Catholicity,  that  we  find  only  two  priests  then  employed  in  what 
is  now  the  diocese  of  Buflalo.  These  were  the  Rev.  Nicholas 
Mertz  and  the  Rev.  Btmard  O'Reilly.  Father  Mertz  was  a  na- 
tive of  Germany,  ordained  in  his  native  country  in  1791,  but 
received  into  the  diocese  of  Baltimore  in  1811,  by  Bishop  Carroll, 
by  w^hom  he  was  always  much  respected  and  esteemed.  He 
spent  fifteen  years  at  Baltimore,  three  at  Conewago,  but  the  re- 
mainder of  his  career  at  Buffalo  and  Eden,  where  he  labeled 


*  Letter  of  the  Eev.  John  Shanahan. 

t  Annalos  de  la  Fropagatiou  de  hi  Foi,  iv.  455. 


476  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

v/ith  the  most  untiring  zeal  from  the  year  1829  till  his  death,  on 
the  10th  of  August,  1844,  when  he  expired,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
one.^ 

The  Rev.  Bernard  O'Reilly,  whose  lo?s  in  the  ill-fated  Pacific 
filled  all  with  grief,  was  connected  with  the  church  at  Roches- 
ter from  about  1833  till  the  period  of  his  nomination  to  the 
episcopal  See  of  Hartforil.  In  that  city  his  zeal  and  labors  were 
untiring;  and  most  of  the  institutions  there,  of  which  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  speak  hereafter,  are  due  to  his  energy  and  devc- 
tedness. 

In  1835,  Williamsville  had  as  pastor  the  Rev.  Mr.  "Wyatt,  fol- 
lowed soon  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Schneider,  who  long  labored  here. 
Auburn,  too,  had  a  pastor,  in  1834,  in  the  person  of  the  Rev.  J. 
O'Donoghue,  w^ho  purchased  a  small  Methodist  meeting  house, 
and  made  it  the  first  Catholic  church  in  the  place.  But  during 
the  efi'ervescence  of  minds  at  that  time,  the  presence  of  a  cler- 
gyman was  so  disliked,  that  a  young  man  w^as  surprised  in  the 
act  of  setting  fire  to  the  church  while  the  poor  and  scanty  con- 
gregation were  assembled  in  it.f  In  1838,  Eden  and  Lockport 
had  also  their  pastors,  and  the  Germans  had  erected  at  Rochester 
a  church,  attended  by  Father  Joseph  Prost  and  Father  Simon 
Sanderl,  both  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer, 
who  thus  inaugurated  the  missions  of  their  order  in  Western 
New  York,  which  have  continued  to  the  present  time,  and  been 
fruitful  in  good.  They  have  also  a  large  and  still  more  flourish- 
inof  church  of  their  order  at  Rochester,  where  four  Fathers  are 
constantly  employed  in  the  ministry. 

Other  churches  arose  at  other  points,  and  when  the  diocese 
was  divided,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  found,  on  taking  possession 
of  his  see,  sixteen  clergymen  in  the  district  committed  to  his 

♦  Catholic  Almana*.,  1845,  p.  179. 

t  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  viii.  254.  Letter  of  Kev.  P, 
O'Plalierty. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  477 

care,  three  churches  iu  Biiftalo,  four  in  Rochester,  and  churches 
or  stations  in  every  county.  Rochester  also  possessed  an  orphan 
asylum,  under  the  care  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  of  St.  .Jo- 
seph, founded  in  1845,  and  an  academy,  conducted  by  the  same 
Sisters. 

Bishop  Timon  began  his  administration  like  a  veteran  mis- 
sionary. On  the  21st  of  November,  1847,  less  than  a  month 
after  his  arrival,  he  consecrated  the  Church  of  St.  Louis,  and 
confirmed  over  two  hundred  persons.  He  then  proceeded  to 
Rochester,  where  he  gave  a  retreat,  preaching  three  times  a  day, 
and  making  two  meditations  for  the  people,  spending  the  rest  of 
his  time  in  the  confessional.  The  next  month  he  gave  retreats 
in  Java  and  Buffalo  ;  in  January,  at  Lockport.  Besides  these 
labors,  he  preached,  instructed,  and  gave  confirmation  at  Attica, 
Geneva,  Ithaca,  Elmira,  and  Scio,  besides  visiting  the  prisoners 
at  Auburn,  where,  of  over  four  hundred,  he  found  only  twenty- 
eight  Catholics.* 

One  of  his  earhest  plans  was  the  foundation  of  a  college ;  and 
in  1848  the  Rev.  Juhan  Delauno,  late  President  of  St.  Mary's 
College,  Kentucky,  opened,  under  the  auspices  of  the  bishop,  the 
College  of  the  Sacred  Heart  at  Rochester;  but  it  met  with  difiicul- 
ties,  and  closed  in  1852.  Another  institution,  St.  Joseph's  Col- 
lege at  Buffalo,  was  opened  in  1849,  and  conducted  for  a  time 
by  secular  priests  and  the  seminarians  of  the  diocese ;  but  this 
being  found  a  plan  attended  with  much  difficulty,  the  college 
was,  in  the  year  1851,  committed  to  the  care  of  the  Oblate 
Fathers.  Those  Fathers  conducted  it  until  the  year  1855,  when 
it  was  found  necessary  to  suspend  it,  to  the  great  regret  of  the 
bishop. 

The  foundation  of  a  hospital  at  Buffalo  was  attended  with 
happier  results.     It  was  confided  to  the  care  of  the  Sisters  of 

*  Annales  de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  xxi.  31. 


478  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

Charity,  who  won  the  admiration  and  confidence  of  the  commu- 
nity ;  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  a  Protestant  clergyman  by  the 
name  of  Lord  thought  that  his  creed  was  in  danger,  and  by 
anonymous  communications  in  the  papers,  or  articles  over  vari- 
ous letters  of  the  alphabet,  endeavored  to  create  prejudice 
against  the  hospital,  and  excite  suspicion  in  the  minds  of  his 
fellow-citizens.  The  Very  Rev.  Bernard  O'Reilly  came  out  in 
reply,  and  forced  Mr.  Lord  to  throw  off  the  mask.  A  long  con- 
troversy ensued,  in  which  the  endeavors  of  Mr.  Lord  to  escape 
rather  justly  prejudiced  all  honest  men  against  himself.*  In- 
stead of  injuring  the  hospital,  this  attack  added  to  its  popularity. 
Up  to  December,  1851,  twenty-four  hundred  persons  were  re- 
ceived into  the  hospital,  most  of  whom,  but  for  the  care  thus 
aflforded  them,  would  have  sunk  to  their  graves.  A  medical 
journal,  edited  by  a  Protestant  physician,  said,  "  The  fact  that 
the  services  of  these  intelligent,  educated,  and  pious  Sisters  are 
bestowed  without  compensation,  contributes  greatly  to  the  econ- 
omy of  the  institution  ;  but  apart  from  this,  the  same  capabili- 
ties and  fidelity  could  not  be  purchased  by  any  pecuniary  con- 
siderations. No  salary,  however  great,  could  aflford  a  substitute 
for  motives  derived  from  the  religious  obligations  which  urge 
those  devoted  females  to  consecrate  their  lives  to  the  ofiSces  of 
charity."! 

The  exertions  of  the  bishop  in  the  cause  of  education  were 
not  confined  to  the  colleo'es :  he  souo^ht  to  endow  his  diocese 
with  a  house  of  religious  women  devoted  to  the  highest  order  of 
teaching,  and  rejoiced  to  find  that  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  were  able  and  willing  to  aid  him.  A  colony,  accordingly, 
same  from  Manhattanville  in  1849,  and  founded  a  convent  of 


*  Discussion  relative  to  the  Buffalo  Hospital  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity, 
between  the  Kev.  John  C.  Lord  and  the  Very  Rev.  B.  O'Reilly,  72  pp.  Buf- 
falo, 1850. 

t  See  Second  General  Report  of  the  Buffalo  Hospital,  Buft'alo,  1852. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  479 

their  order  in  Buffalo,  ^vllich  was  in  1855  transferred  to  lloclies- 
ter,  as  a  more  central  point  for  their  academy. 

Besides  these  institutions,  the  untiring  bishop  established  a  found- 
ling hospital  and  asylum  for  widows,  and  has  within  the  last  year 
introduced  the  Sisters  of  Our  Lady  of  Charity,  a  colony  of  the 
original  order,  as  founded  by  Father  Eudes,  in  1645.  They  have 
not  yet  been  enabled  to  open  a  penitent  asylum,  and  are  labor- 
ing under  great  difficulties ;  but  the  devoted  pastor  will  overcome 
all  obstacles  to  his  good  works.  The  Sisters  who  founded  this 
convent,  the  first  of  their  order  in  the  United  States,  were  Sister 
^lary  de  St.  Jerome  Tourneny,  as  Superior,  Sisters  Mary  de  St. 
Etienne  Vardey  and  Sister  Mary  de  St.  Cyr  Corbin,  with  the  lay- 
Sister  Mary  of  St.  Martin  :  they  were  a  filiation  from  the  con- 
vent of  Rennes,  and  arrived  in  Bufi'alo  on  the  1st  of  June, 
1855. 

These  are  not  the  only  accessions  within  the  last  year :  the 
Brothers  of  the  Holy  Infancy  of  Jesus  have  been  introduced  to 
direct  the  boys'  orphan  asylum ;  and  the  Sisters  of  St.  Bridget, 
an  order  founded  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century  in  Ireland, 
by  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Lanigan,  in  honor  of  the  Virgin  Patroness 
of  the  island,  now  devote  themselves  to  the  instruction  of  poor 
girls  at  Buffalo  and  Rochester. 

The  impulse  given  by  the  good  bishop  was  felt  in  other  parts 
of  the  diocese,  and  the  zealous  pastor  of  Canandaigua,  the  Rev. 
E.  O'Connor,  whom  we  find  laboring  in  the  diocese  in  1848, 
and  at  Canandaigua  since  1851,  resolved,  after  erecting  chapels 
at  the  most  important  points  around  him,*  to  give  his  parish 
such  establishments  of  mercy  as  would  perpetuate  the  faith. 
The  religious  order  to  which  he  applied  was  the  Sisters  of  St. 
Joseph,  who  had  a  house  at  St.  Louis  and  in  other  cities  of  the 
Union.     Of  the  origin  of  this  order  we  have  given  an  account 

*  Bloomfield  acd  Lushville. 


480  THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

when  speaking  of  the  diocese  of  Philadelphia,  and  need  not  re- 
peat it  here.  On  the  8th  of  December,  1854,  the  very  day  when 
all  the  Christian  world  extdted,  by  its  representative  bishops  at 
Rome,  on  the  definition  of  the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception by  his  Holiness  Pope  Pius  IX.,  a  colony  of  the  Sisters 
of  St.  Joseph  arrived  at  Canandaigua  from  St.  Louis.  Mother 
Agnes,  the  Superior,  had  as  companions  Sisters  Frances,  Joseph, 
Theodosia,  and  Petronilla,  followed  by  two  others  from  St.  Louis 
and  one  from  Philadelphia.  Devoting  themselves  to  the  various 
good  works  contemplated  by  their  rule,  they  opened  an  acade- 
my, which  is  numerously  attended,  and  enables  the  Sisters  to  un- 
dertake other  works  of  mercy.  Besides  an  orphan  asylum,  they 
have  a  Home  for  poor  girls  of  good  character,  when  out  of  place, 
or  overtaken  by  sickness.  This  latter  object,  peculiar  to  this 
Home,  is  the  more  essential,  as,  from  the  absoiice  of  a  hospital, 
the  poor  girl  had  previously  no  alternative  but  the  poorhouse. 

As  the  Sisters  have  opened  a  novitiate,  and  already  had  postu- 
lants, there  is  every  prospect  that  the  order  is  firmly  planted  at 
Canaudaigua.* 

While  this  order  was  thus  diffusing  the  odor  of  sanctity 
around  Canandaigua,  the  w^estern  part  of  New  York  beheld  the 
Recollects  once  more  return  to  the  scene  of  their  early  labors. 
Nicholas  Devereux,  Esq.,  of  Utica,  ownied  a  large  tract  in  Alle- 
ghany and  Cattaraugus  counties,  to  which  he  had  endeavored  to 
draw  Catholic  settlers,  facilitating  in  every  way  the  erection  of 
churches  and  establishing  of  missions.  But  the  progress  of 
Catholicity  did  not  correspond  to  his  zealous  wishes,  and  hav- 
ing visited  Rome  in  1854,  applied  to  the  Irish  College  of  St. 
Isidore  for  Fathers  of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis  to  found  a  mis- 
sion in  New  York,  offering  five  thousand  dollars  and  two  hundred 
acres  of  land  for  the  new  convent.     He  wished  seven  Fathers  in 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  481 

order  to  begin  the  mission,  but  as  there  were  not  so  many  able 
to  speak  English  who  could  be  sent,  it  was  resolved  to  defer  the 
intended  colony  for  two  years.  The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  of  Buf- 
falo was,  however,  in  Rome,  and,  from  his  zeal,  objected  to  any 
such  delay.  On  this,  some  of  the  Fathers  so  earnestly  besought 
the  General  of  the  order  for  permission  to  go  and  restore  the 
Franciscan  order  in  that  part  of  the  world,  where  their  own 
brethren  had  been  the  first  apostles,  that  he  consented,  and  the 
Fathere  received  all  due  faculties. 

Of  this  new  colony  of  Recollects,  Father  Pamphilus  de  Mag- 
liano  is  the  Gustos,  or  Superior,  having  under  him  Father 
Sixtus  de  Gagliano,  Father  Samuel  da  Prezza,  and  the  lay- 
brother,  Salvador  de  Manarola.  They  are  all  Recollects,  or 
Reformed  Franciscans,  of  the  same  family  as  the  early  missiona- 
ries of  Ganada,  and  the  chaplains  whom  we  have  had  occasion 
to  mention.* 

Two  of  the  Fathers  were  professors  of  theology  at  or  near 
Rome,  the  Superior  at  the  Irish  College,  Father  Sixtus  at  the 
convent  of  St.  Bernardine,  at  Urbino ;  Father  Samuel  was  at  the 
College  San  Pietro  Montorio,  in  Rome,  having  just  completed  his 
studies.  Father  Pamphilus  and  Father  Sixtus  had  long  nour- 
ished a  desire  of  devoting  themselves  to  the  foreign  missions,  and 
had  selected  the  United  States  as  their  chosen  field  of  labor;  so 
much  so,  that  a  few  days  before  Mr.  Devereux's  application,  they 
had  declined  an  invitation  to  proceed  to  Buenos  Ay  res. 

With  the  blessing  of  the  Holy  Father,  and  authority  to  estab- 
lish a  province  of  their  order,  they  left  Rome  on  the  9th  of 

*  The  Franciscans,  or  Friars  Minor,  comprise,  Ist,  The  Observantiues,  the 
Recollects,  and  Alcantarinee,  who  number  about  ninety  thousand,  and  are 
subject  to  the  Minister-general  of  the  Order  of  Minors.  The  present  Gen- 
eral is  Father  Venantius  da  Celano,  a  Recollect.  2d,  The  Oapucins.  3d,  The 
Conventuals.  4th,  The  Tertiaries  :  the  last  three  having  each  a  General  of 
their  own.  The  Capucins  number  about  forty  thousand,  the  Couveatuals 
Beven  thouaaud,  and  the  Teriiaries  a  number  almost  incalculable. 

21* 


482  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

May,  1855,  and  reacliing  New  York  on  tlie  19tli  of  June,  pro- 
ceeded to  EUicottsville,  where  they  began  their  labors.  A  con- 
vent and  college  will  soon  arise  in  Allegany  City,  whence  the 
Fathers  will  minister  to  the  Catholics  in  all  the  adjoining  conn- 
try.*  Already  have  their  labors  been  fruitful :  everywhere,  in- 
deed, have  the  good  Fathers  of  St.  Francis,  as  humble  and  gentle 
as  their  martyred  brother.  Father  Zenobe  Membre,  or  the  aged 
Gabriel  de  la  Ribourde,  won  the  confidence  and  affection  of  all. 
As  their  numbers  increase,  Canada  w^ill  doubtless  too  claim  a 
house  of  the  order  of  her  sainted  Caron.f 

Only  one  difficulty  troubled  the  administration  of  Bishop 
Timon,  and  this  arose  in  the  Church  of  St.  Louis.  The  ground 
for  that  church  had  been  deeded  to  Bishop  Dubois,  at  the  time 
of  his  visit  to  Buffalo  in  1829,  by  Louis  Le  Couteulx,  Esq.  Grad- 
ually the  church  had  been  erected,  and  a  body  of  trustees  or- 
ganized, under  the  general  law  of  the  State.  To  them  the 
administration  of  the  church  was  transfeiTed,  the  bishop  having 
full  confidence  in  their  integrity  as  men,  and  fidelity  as  Catholics. 
This  hope  was,  however,  delusive  :  ere  long  they  began  to  usurp 
powers  not  their  own ;  and  on  the  issuing  of  the  pastoral  letter 
of  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Hughes,  after  the  Diocesan  Synod  in 
1842,  the  trustees  of  St.  Louis's  Church  peremptorily  refused  to 
submit  to  the  regulations  contained  in  it.  These  regulations  re- 
quired every  church  to  act  under  its  pastor,  subject  to  the  ulti- 
mate decision  of  the  ordinary  in  the  appointment  of  teachers, 
sexton,  organists,  choir,  and  other  persons  employed  in  the  house 
of  God.  It  also  subjected  the  expenditures  of  the  churcTi  funds 
'to  the  supervision  of  the  pastor  and  bishop,  and  required  the  ac- 
counts to  be  open  to  their  inspection.  By  the  terms  of  the  pas- 
toral, any  church  refusing  to  submit  to  these  regulations  within 


*  Letter  of  Father  Magliano. 

i  See  History  of  the  Catholic  Missions. 


IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.  483 

BIX  months,  was  to  be  deprived  of  a  pastor.  The  Church  of  St. 
Louis,  notwithstandiug  the  refusal  of  the  trustees,  was  not  de- 
prived by  the  bishop  of  its  pastor,  but  the  trustees  and  their 
adherents  compelled  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pax  to  quit  his  post  and  leave 
the  country.* 

The  bishop  declined  to  put  another  clergyman  at  their  mercy, 
but  sent  two  priests,  who  erected  a  new  church,  leaving  that  of 
St.  Louis  closed.  On  the  next  visitation  of  his  diocese  by  Bishop 
Hughes,  he  received  the  voluntary  submission  of  the  schismatic 
trustees,  who  agreed  to  observe  the  regulations  of  the  pastoral. 
A  priest  was  again  placed  there,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Timon  consecrated  the  church  soon  after  his  arrival, 
on  being  informed  that  the  title  of  the  church  was  in  the  bishop. 
The  trustees,  however,  soon  resumed  their  usurpation,  and  the 
pastor  publicly  insulted,  menaced,  and  ordered  by  a  daring  mi- 
nority to  quit,  withdrew,  bearing  with  him  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment. A  new  church  was  begun  for  the  faithful  part  of  the  con- 
gregation, as  before.f 

The  trustees  still  maintained  their  opposition,  however,  and 
appealed  to  the  Holy  See.  As  the  Supreme  Pontiff  was  just 
about  to  send  to  this  country,  for  the  first  time,  a  Nuncio,  in  the 
person  of  the  Archbishop  of  Thebes,  the  Most  Reverend  Cajetan 
Bedini,  he  confided  to  him,  among  other  things,  the  considera- 
tion of  the  case.  In  a  long  and  able  letter,  that  eminent  prelate, 
on  the  2oth  of  October,  1853,  discussed  the  whole  question,  and 
showed  them  that  the  canons  of  the  Church  were  imperative, 
and  that  the  charter  under  which  they,  claimed,  being  merely 
permissive,  must  be  construed  so  as  not  to  conflict  with  their 
duty  as  Catholics.  "  The  privilege  which  the  civil  law  grants  is 
permissive ;  you  may  use  it,  or  not.  It  is  your  duty  to  consult 
the  principles  of  your  faith,   to  ascertain  when  and  how  you 

*  Ikooksiana,  p.  63.  f  Keply  to  Mr.  Babcock's  Speech,  p.  5. 


484  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

ought  to  use  it."*  Having  shown  them  that  the  management  of 
the  pious  offerings  belonged  to  the  bishop,  as  they  were  made 
for  the  support  of  divine  worship,  which  clergymen  appointed  by 
him  alone  could  perform,  he  urged  them  to  comply  with  the 
wishes  of  their  prelate  ;  but  they  obstinately  refused,  rejecting 
the  decision  of  the  very  tribunal  to  which  they  appealed. 

The  good  bishop  did  not  despair,  and  the  Rev.  Father  Francis 
X.  Weninger,  a  distinguished  Jesuit  missionary,  having  offered 
to  preach  a  retreat  there,  the  bishop  cheerfully  consented,  and 
the  erring  men  at  last  yielded,  and  once  more  enabled  the  Holy 
Sacrifice  to  be  offered  in  the  church. 

The  diocese  of  Buffalo,  so  poorly  provided  with  missionaries 
when  Bishop  Timon  was  promoted  to  the  See,  so  destitute  of 
those  institutions  of  charity  and  education  needed  above  all  in 
a  country  where  education  and  benevolence  are  a  mask  for  prose- 
lytizing error,  became  one  of  the  most  richly  endowed  in  the 
country.  It  contained  one  hundred  and  twenty  churches  and 
chapels,  a  hundred  other  stations,  seventy-eight  priests,  inclu- 
ding, besides  the  secular  clergy,  Jesuits,  Redemptorists,  Oblates, 
and  Franciscans,  a  theological  seminary,  five  orphan  asylums,  a 
Home  for  the  innocent,  a  Refuge  for  the  penitent,  a  hospital  for 
the  sick,  and  schools  directed  by  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  St.  Bridget, 
Notre  Dame,  and  Charity  in  1856. 

In  1857  the  Theological  Seminary  of  Our  Lady  of  the  An- 
gels, under  the  care  of  the  Lazarist  Fathers,  was  established 
near  Niagara  City  ;  although  suspended  for  a  time,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  buildings  being  destroyed  by  fire,  this  institution 
continues  to  this  day,  and  has  supplied  many  excellent  priests. 
In  1878  it  contained  85  theological  students. 


*  Letter  of  the  Moat  Rev.  Archbishop  of  Thebes,  in  New  York  Freeman'i 
Journal,  November  5,  1858. 


IIT  THE  UN'ITED  STATES.  485 

The  next  year,  Bishop  Timon  visited  Rome,  to  take  part  in 
the  anniversary  of  St..  Peter. 

To  give  an  asylum  for  those  aflflicted  with  mental  disease,  the 
Bishop  founded,  in  1860,  the  Providence  lusane  Asylum,  placing 
it  under  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 

Bishop  Timou  preached  at  the  opening  of  the  Second  Pro- 
vincial Council  of  New  York,  in  1860,  and  attended  the  canoni- 
zation of  the  Japanese  martyrs ;  but  his  health  failed  rapidly, 
and  he  died  piously,  April  16th,  1867,  esteemed  by  all  for  his 
learning,  zeal,  and  devotion. 

During  the  vacancy  of  the  see  the  diocese  was  administered 
by  the  Very  Rev.  William  Gleeson.  As  successor  to  Bishop 
Timon,  the  Holy  See  selected  the  Lazarist  Father,  Stephen  Vin- 
cent Ryan,  who  was  consecrated  on  the  8th  of  November,  1868. 

The  diocese  was,  however,  divided,  and  a  new  see  was  estab- 
lished at  Rochester,  the  diocese  including  the  counties  of  Mon- 
roe, Livingston,  Wayne,  Ontario,  Seneca,  Cayuga,  Yates,  and 
Tompkins.  The  Very  Rev.  Bernard  J.  McQuaid,  Vicar-General 
of  Newark,  was  selected  as  the  first  bishop,  and  consecrated  July 
12th,  1868. 

Under  the  second  Bishop  of  Buffalo,  the  new  churches  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  the  Seven  Dolors,  St.  Stanislaus  for  the  Poles, 
St.  Nicholas,  the  Sacred  Heart,  St.  Stephen's,  and  St.  Patrick's 
Church  in  Holy  Cross  Cemetery  have  been  erected  ;  and  the 
whole  number  of  churches  in  the  diocese  rose,  by  1878,  from  135 
to  172. 

The  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  have  established  Canisius 
College,  Bnflalo  ;  the  Gray  Nuns  of  Montreal,  and  School  Sis- 
ters of  Notre  Dame  have  been  introduced,  and,  like  the  older 
orders,  have  spread  over  the  diocese  new  academies  and  institu- 
tions. 

^  DIOCESE  OF  ROCHESTER. 

The  new  Bishop  of  Rochester  found  an  ample  field  for  his 


486  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

zeal  and  energy.  The  first  church  at  his  episcopal  city  had  been 
of  old  afflicted  with  insubordination,  and  for  a  long  time  was 
closed.  There  were  still  in  various  paits  abuses  that  required  a 
firm  hand.  He  developed  the  churches  :  building,  improving, 
reorganizing.  He  devoted  himself  especially  to  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation, and,  in  September,  1870,  established  St.  Patrick's  Pre- 
paratory Seminary,  He  also  developed  the  system  of  parochial 
schools,  which  are  now  established  in  most  of  the  churches.  In 
1878  the  diocese  contained  77  churches,  and  62  priests,  with  43 
seminarians  preparing  for  the  priesthood.  With  a  Catholic  pop- 
ulation not  exceeding  70,000,  the  diocese  had  7,000  children  in 
the  parochial  schools. 

Brooklyn. — The  last  diocese  in  New  York  formed  by  the 
Holy  See  is  that  of  Brooklyn,  comprising  the  whole  of  Long 
Island,  an  island  named  by  the  early  Catholic  discoverers  the 
Isle  of  the  Holy  Apostles.  The  eastern  portion  was  settled  from 
New  England,  the  western  by  the  Dutch  in  early  times,  and  few 
Catholics  have  settled  there.  Brooklyn,  from  a  mere  suburb  of 
New  York,  has  grown  within  a  few  years  to  be  one  of  the  largest 
cities  in  America,  and  much  of  its  population  consists  of  Catho- 
lics. In  1822,  there  was  not  a  Catholic  church  on  the  Island, 
The  next  year,  St.  James's  Church,  in  Jay-street,  was  erected, 
under  the  auspices  of  Bishop  Connolly  ;  and  here,  in  Septembei-, 
1823,  on  a  few  boards  clumsily  put  together  for  an  altar,  the 
Rev.  John  Shanahan  said  his  first  Mass.  The  first  permanent 
pastor  here  was  the  Rev.  John  Walsh,  who  may  be  considered 
the  founder  of  the  mission,  having  labored  here  earnestlv  for 
many  years.  In  1837  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bradley  visited  Flushing  and 
Williamsburg,  which,  with  Staten  Island,  formed  his  parish. 
The  next  year,  Brooklyn  had  a  second  church  ;  and  three  yejws 
after,  the  Rev.  James  O'Donnell  erected  St.  Mary's,  at  William^- 
burg,  a  small  frame,  which  has  since  been  repla.ced  by  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  through  the  exertions  of  the 
Rev.  S.  Malone ;  and  the  zealous  Rev.  Mr.  Rafieiner  reared  the 


I]Sr  THE  UNITED  STATES.  487 

Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  for  his  German  countrymen.  But 
even  these  churches  were  not  sufficient.  In  the  following  year, 
the  Rev.  D.  W.  B<icon,  whom  we  have  seen  on  the  mission  at 
Utica,  and  who  now  fills  the  See  of  Portland,  purchased  a  build- 
ing- which  a  priest  had,  in  a  moment  of  insubordination,  erected 
as  nu  Independent  Catholic  Church.  This,  dedicated  to  the 
worship  of  God,  became  the  Church  of  the  Assumption.  The 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  Emmanuel  became  the  Church 
of  St.  Charles  Borromeo  about  the  time  that  Bishop  Ives,  who 
had  there  ordained  the  Rev.  Donald  McLeod,  became,  with  that 
gentleman,  a  submissive  child  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

When  the  Holy  See  resolved  to  erect  Long  Island  into  a  dio- 
'cese,  it  called  to  the  episcopate,  as  Bishop  of  Brooklyn,  the  Verv 
Rev.  John  Loughlin,  for  many  years  Vicar-general  of  the  dioce3o 
of  'New  York,  and  well  known  in  the  city  of  New  York  for  h\a 
devotedness  as  a  pastor  in  that  most  trying  of  all  missions,  an 
extensive  parish  in  a  crowded  city.  Educated  at  the  Seminary 
of  Mount  St.  Mary's,  he  had  been  exercising  the  lioly  ministry 
in  New  York  from  1841.  He  was  consecrated  by  the  Most  Rev- 
erend Cajetan  Bedini,  Nuncio  of  His  Holiness,  at  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral,  on  the  30th  of  October,  1853,  at  the  same  time  as 
the  Right  Rev.  James  R.  Bayley,  Bishop  of  Newark,  and  the 
Right  Rev.  Louis  de  Goesbriand,  Bishop  of  Burhngton.  The 
new  prelate  immediately  took  possession  of  his  diocese,  which 
then  contained,  in  Brooklyn  and  Williamsburg  united,  ten  church- 
es, and  in  the  rest  of  the  island  eleven,  with  seven  stations,  the 
whole  attended  by  a  body  of  twenty-three  priests.  To  aid  them 
there  were  two  orphan  asylums,  one  directed  by  the  Sisters  of 
Charily,  who  had  been  laboring  in  Brooklyn  from  1836,  having 
charge  both  of  the  asylum  and  the  free-schools  for  girls.  The 
Chrisiian  Brothers  had,  however,  within  a  year  or  two  assumed 
the  direction  of  the  free-school  at  St.  James's  Church. 

The  bishop  zealously  applied  himself  to  allbrd  his  flock  the 


4:88  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

advantages  for  education  and  aid  whicli  their  condition  required. 
He  purchased  a  house  for  a  colony  of  Dominican  nuns,  which  the 
Very  Kev.  Mr.  Raffeiner  had  previously  procured  from  Bavaria. 
In  September,  1855,  the  prelate  also  obtained  some  Visitation 
nuns  of  the  house  at  Baltimore.  These  then  founded,  with 
Mother  Juliana  Mathews  as  Superior,  the  first  monastery  in  New 
York  of  the  order  planted  in  America  by  the  venerable  Alice 
Laior.  Their  academy  is  already  in  a  prosperous  condition,  and 
will  supply  a  want  which  Brooklyn  has  long  felt. 

The  good  bishop  was  no  less  successful  in  his  appeal  to  the  Sis- 
ters of  Mercy  at  New  York,  who  in  the  same  year,  under  Mother 
Vincent  Haire,  founded  the  convent  of  St.  Francis  Assisium,  and 
having  obtained  a  dehghtful  house  for  the  purpose,  now  devote 
themselves  to  all  the  works  which  their  rule  contemplates. 

During  his  long  administration  of  the  diocese.  Bishop  Loughlin 
saw  churches  and  institutions  arising  in  all  parts  of  his  island 
diocese.  Besides  several  in  Brooklyn,  the  Church  of  the  Visi- 
tation, St.  Ajine's,  S'.  Vincent  de  Paul,  St.  Francis,  Our  Lady 
of  Mercy,  All  Saints,  Our  Lady  of  Victory,  St.  Louis,  St.  Augus- 
tine, St.  Cecilin,  and  the  Sacred  Heart;  new  chuiches  were 
erected  at  Jamaica,  Glen  Cove,  Manhasset,  Westbury,  Green 
Point,  Greenfield,  Hunter's  Point,  Rockaway,  Fort  Hamilton, 
Flatbush,  Flashing,  and  other  points.  The  church  of  St. 
Charles  Borromeo,  destroyed  by  fire,  was  rebuilt,  and  a  magni- 
ficent Cathedral  was  begun  at  Lafayette  Avenue,  between 
Cleimont  and  Vanderbilt  Avenues,  The  corner-stone  of  the 
new  edifice,  which  was  to  be  erected  in  honor  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  was  laid  June  20th,  1868.  The  parish  schools  have 
extended,  and  now  educate  20, 000  pupils.  The  Lazarists  founded 
in  Brooklyn  the  Seminary  and  College  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
wliich  are  in  a  most  prosperous  condition  ;  the  Fathers  of  Mercy, 
from  New  York,  established  a  house.  The  teaching  ordei-s,  the 
Visitation  Nuns,  Sisters  of  Charity,  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  with 


IN  THE  U]S"ITED  STATES.  489 

mother  house  at  Flushing,  developed,  opening  new  academies 
and  numerous  parochial  schools.  The  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor 
founded  a  convent  and  asylum  which  is  the  residence  of  the 
Mother  Provincial  of  the  United  States,  and  which  was  visited 
by  a  conflagration,  the  fire,  desjute  the  eflbrls  of  the  Sisters, 
proving  fatal  to  some  of  their  aged  wards.  The  Sisters  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  of  Mary  have  also  entered  the  diocese. 

The  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd  wms  founded  in  18G8,  has 
rendered  incalculable  good  in  reclaiming  the  erring  but  con- 
science stricken. 

The  City  of  Brooklyn  contained,  in  1878,  thirty-nine  churches 
and  one  chapel,  and  there  were  in  the  rest  of  the  diocese  thirty- 
two  other  churches,  with  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  priests. 

The  diocese  has  two  colleges,  a  number  of  academies,  four 
orphan  asylums,  and  three  hospitals. 

Among  the  early  benefactors  of  the  Church  in  Brooklyn 
Cornelius  Heeny  will  long  be  remembered.  He  was  at  one 
time  a  partner  of  John  Jacob  Astor,  and  accumulated  a  large 
property.  He  gave  freely  to  the  Church  and  the  orphan,  and 
gave  in  his  lifetime,  leaving  only  a  moderate  estate.  He 
offered  ground  for  the  first  Catholic  church,  and  though  an- 
other site  was  preferred,  the  second  church  was  erected  on  the 
site  offered  by  him. 

Col.  Meline,  a  Catholic  author  of  great  ability,  whose  refuta- 
tion of  Froude  received  the  highest  commendation  in  England, 
died  in  Brooklyn,  where  he  spent  his  last  days. 

DIOCESE  OF  NEWARK. 

Newark. — The  State  of  New  Jersey,  forming  the  diocese  of 
Newark,  had  been  confided  to  the  care  of  the  Right  Rev.  James 
Roosevelt  Bayley,  born  at  New  York ;  and  though  a  nephew,  on 
his  father's  side,  of  the  venerable  Mother  Seton,  and  even  cod- 


400  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

nected  with  the  family  of  Dongan,  Earl  of  Limenck,  the  Catho 
lie  governor  of  New  York,  he  was  born  and  brought  np  in  the 
Protestant  religion,  and  resolved  to  enter  the  ministry  as  an 
Episcopalian  clergyman.  He  was  stationed  for  some  years  at 
Ilarlem,  where  he  witnessed  the  faith  and  piety  of  the  Irish 
Catholic  laborers,  who  ever  found  in  him  a  kind  and  generous 
friend.  Early  led  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  the  Reformation,  he 
proceeded  to  Rome,  and  there,  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  em- 
bracing the  one  true  faith,  he  renounced  error  with  a  generous 
spirit  of  sacrifice,  conscious  that  the  step  would  deprive  him  of 
the  accumulated  wealth  which  an  uncle  reserved  for  his  favorite 
nephew.  Proceeding  to  Paris,  he  entered  the  Seminary  of  St. 
Sulpice,  and  after  his  course  of  studies,  was  ordained  at  New 
York,  on  the  2d  of  March,  1844.  He  was  subsequently  Vice- 
president  and  President  of  St.  John's  College,  Pastor  of  Staten 
Island,  and  then  secretary  to  the  archbishop,  an  office  which 
he  filled  down  to  the  time  of  his  consecration  to  the  See  of 
Newark. 

His  jurisdiction  extends  to  the  whole  State  of  New  Jersey, 
previously  subject  partly  the  See  of  Philadelphia,  and  partly  to 
that  of  New  York.  Of  the  rise  of  Catholicity  in  the  State,  it 
becomes  us  here  to  say  a  few  words.  The  first  Catholic  priest  who 
is  known  to  have  visited  New  Jersey  is  the  Rev.  Mr.  Harding, 
Avhose  labors  could  not  have  been  prior  to  1762  ;  but  of  the 
time  and  place  we  have  no  details.  Tlie  chief  Catholic  congre- 
gation was  at  Macoupin,  settled  by  a  colony  of  Germans  from  the 
neio'hborhood  of  Coloo;ne,  v»'ho  were  brouo-ht  over  to  conduct  tlie 
iron-works  begun  in  New  Jersey  a  little  over  a  century  ago. 
Two  of  the  families  settled  at  Macoupin,  Mjirion  and  Schulster, 
were  pious  Catholics,  from  Baden  ;  and  their  descendants,  to  this 
day,  have  preserved  the  faith  and  devotion  of  their  ancestors, 
gaining  even  the  children  of  Protestant  fellovz-emigrants,  so  as  to 
form-  a  Catholic  colony  remarkable  for  its  fervent  piety.     A  Rev 


IN"  THE  UN"ITFD  STATES.  4.91 

Mr.  LADgrey,  an  Irish  priest,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  to  visit 
them ;  but  the  venerable  Father  Ferdinand  Farmer,  distinguished 
in  Europe  as  an  astronomer  and  philosopher,  and  even  honored 
as  such  here,''"'"  but  known  to  Catholics  by  his  devoted  labors  as 
an  humble  missionary,  seems  to  have  been  the  Hist  to  visit  New 
Jersey  regularly.  In  his  baptismal  register,  cited  by  Mr.  Camp- 
bell, we  find  him  ofRciatino:  at  Geio'er's  in  1759,  Charlottenburc; 
in  17G9,  in  Morris  county,  at  Long  Pond,  and  Mount  Hope,  near 
Macoupin,  in  17*76.  Indeed,  he  is  said  to  have  visited  Macoupin 
twice  a  year  for  a  considerable  period.  The  Revolution,  which 
made  New  Jersey  the  battle-field  between  the  contending  armies, 
interrupted  his  visits,  and  we  do  not  find  him  reappearing  till 
1785,  in  Sussex  county,  Riugwood  and  Hunterdon. 

Other  piiests  also  visited  the  scattered  Catholics,  and  among 
these  are  mentioned  the  Rev.  Mr.  Malenx,  Rev.  Mr.  Katen,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Kresgel;  the  last  named  a  German  priest,  who  was  at 
Macoupin  in  I775.f 

Except,  however,  the  Catholics  at  Macoupin,  no  traces  now  re- 
main of  those  scattered  through  the  State,  prior  to  the  Revolu- 
tion. The  schoolmaster  at  Momit  Holly  in  17G2  was  an  Irish 
Catholic,  Thomas  McCurtain,  a  nephew  of  the  Gaelic  scholar ; 
but  he  removed  to  Philadelphia  after  the  war,  in  order  to  enjoy 
.hiG  advantages  of  religion.];  Others,  doubtless,  did  the  same, 
and  swelled  the  congregations  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  century,  a  number  of  French  families 
from  St.  Domingo  and  other  parts  of  the  West  Indies  settled  in 
"^iew  Jersey,  at  various  points.     And  in  1806,  we  find  the  Rev. 


*  He  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  University,  and  a  member  of  the  Phil- 
osophical Society.     U.  S.  Catholic  Mntrazino,  iv.  2")7. 

t  Campbell,  Life  and  Times  of  Archbishop  Carroll,  in  U.  S.  Catholic 
Magazine,  vi.  434.  N.  Y.  Freeman's  Journal,  1S47.  Bishop  Bayley,  Brief 
bl<etch,  p.  97. 

X  His  wife  was  a  convert,  and  the  writer  feels  pride  in  saying  tliat  not  one 
of  his  descendants  has  ever  fallen  from  the  Clmro'n. — J.  Q-.  S. 


492  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

Mr.  Tisseraut  living  at  Elizabethtown  with  a  colony  of  them.* 
He  was  there,  however,  only  a  visitor,  which  was  the  naore  to  bo 
regretted,  as  Bishop  Cheveinis,  in  recommending  Mrs.  Seton  to 
apply  to  him,  styles  Mr.  Tisseraut  a  most  amiable  and  respectable 
man,  equally  conspicuous  for  his  learning  and  piety. 

After  New  York  had  the  consolation  of  possessing  a  bishop, 
the  Rev.  Richard  Bulger,  who  was  ordained  by  the  Right  Rev. 
Dr.  Connolly  in  1820,  was  stationed  at  Paterson,  and  during  his 
short  career  devoted  himself  with  great  fidelity  to  the  care  of  the 
Catholics  scattered  amid  a  most  bigoted  population.  In  the 
course  of  his  ministry,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bulger  was  often  exposed  to 
insult  and  hardship,  which  he  bore  with  patience  and  cheerful- 
ness, often  laughingly  recounting  his  own  mishaps.  Nor  was  his 
patience  denied  its  fruit.  The  present  Bishop  of  Newark  relates 
ihe  following  instance  in  which  a  conversion  repaid  humiliation, 
and  edifying  patience  was  a  lesson  of  truth  : 

"  Trudging  along  one  day  on  foot,  canying  a  bundle  contain- 
ing his  vestments  and  breviary  under  his  arm,  he  was  overtaken 
by  a  farmer  and  his  wife  in  a  wagon.  The  farmer  invited  Mr. 
Bulger  to  ride  ;  but  it  having  come  out,  in  the  course  of  his  con- 
versation, that  he  was  a  priest,  the  wife  declared  that  he  should 
not  remain  in  the  wagon,  and  he  was  consequently  obliged  to  get 
out,  and  resume  his  journey  on  foot.  But  the  farmer  afterwards 
applied  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bulger  for  instruction,  and  was  received 
into  the  Catholic  Church."| 

The  Church  of  Paterson  is  mentioned  in  the  Almanac  of 
1822  as  the  only  church  in  the  State,  Mr.  Bulger  being  the  pas- 
tor.J  His  zealous  career  was,  however,  terminated  by  a  prema- 
ture death  at  New  York  in  November,  1824. 

As  part  of  the  State  was  subject  to  the  Bishop  of  Philadel- 

*  Bishop  Bayley,  Brief  Sketch,  p.  51.     See  White's  Life  of  Mother  Seton, 
p.  17L 
t  Bp.  Bayley,  Brief  Sketch,  p.  75.         X  Laity  Directory  for  1822,  p.  105. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  493 

pliia,  we  find  soon  after  clergymen  visiting  that  portion,  and 
establishing  stations  at  Pleasant  Mills  and  Trenton,  which  con- 
tinued to  be  visited  till  the  diocese  of  Newark  was  erected. 

Newark  had  a  pastor,  about  1830,  in  the  Rev.  Gregory  B. 
Pardow,  a  native  of  New  York,  whom  we  find,  in  1834,  the  only 
priest  actually  residing  in  New  Jersey.  The  next  year,  how- 
ever, he  was  succeeded  by  the  Very  Rev.  P.  Moran,  who  has  for 
more  than  twenty  years  labored  on  that  mission,  and  contributed 
most  essentially  to  the  progress  of  Catholicity,  as  did  the  Rev. 
Louis  Seuez,  the  Newark  Oi'phau  Asylum  being  due  to  the  zeal 
of  the  latter. 

Madison,  Jersey  City,  New  Brunswick,  and  Paterson  next  had 
resident  pastors;  and  in  1841,  the  devoted  Rev.  John  Raifeiner 
raised  a  German  church  at  Macoupin,  the  more  than  centenarian 
son  of  Mr.  Marion  assisting  at  the  ceremony.  Two  years  later, 
a  German  church  also  rose  at  Newark,  directed  by  the  Rev.  N. 
Balleis. 

On  assuming  the  direction  of  this  diocese,  the  Right  Rev. 
Bishop  found  in  the  State  thirty-three  churches  and  thirty  cler- 
gymen, with  an  orphan  asylum  at  Newark,  containing  fifty-one 
children,  guided  by  five  Sisters  of  Charity,  and  parish  schools 
attached  to  many  of  the  churches. 

One  of  his  first  objects  was  to  establish  a  college,  for  which 
he  purchased  land  at  Madison,  in  1855,  and,  in  the  following 
year,  opened  Seton  Hall  College,  under  the  presidency  of  the 
Rev.  B.  J.  McQiiaid. 

In  1857  the  Monks  of  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict  were  intro- 
duced to  direct  churches  for  the  German  Calholics,  and  Nuns  of 
the  same  order  were  established  at  Newark  to  take  charge  of 
the  parochial  schools. 

In  order  to  develop  the  higher  academies  for  young  ladies, 
the  Sisters  of  Chavitv  in  the  diocese  were  detached  from  the 
New  York  organization,  and  a  Mother  House  established,  which 


494  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

was  soon  after  removed  to  Madison,  where  a  fine  academy  has 
since  been  conducted,  Seton  Hall  College  being  at  South 
Orano-;'. 

Just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war,  the  diocese  was  en- 
riched by  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  Missionary  Sisters  of  St. 
Francis,  and  the  Sisters  of  the  Poor  of  St.  Francis,  the  lalter  of 
whom  soon  established  an  hospital  at  Newark. 

An  accession  of  gTcat  importance  during  the  war  was  that  of 
a  community  of  the  pious  and  devoted  Passionist  Fathers,  whose 
monastery  and  (;hurch  at  West  Hoboken  have  been  a  source  of 
great  spiritual  blessings  to  the  diocese.  The  Conventual  Fran- 
ciscans also  came  to  labor  at  Trenton. 

The  Biothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  and  the  Franciscan 
Brothers,  we;e  introduced  a  few  years  later  to  give  greater  effi- 
cacy to  the  parochial  schools  for  boys.  Nearly  all  these  com- 
munities prospered  and  increased,  so  that  the  diocese  was  well 
endowed  with  college,  academies,  schools,  hospitals,  and  asylums. 
The  churches  had  risen  from  35  to  nearly  100,  and  the  priests  in- 
creased in  proportion,  zealously  carrying  out  the  regulations  adopt- 
ed in  the  Synods  held  in  1856  and  subsequent  years.  When  the 
voice  of  the  Sovereign  Pontitf  called  Bishop  Bay  ley  to  the  See  of 
Baltimore,  in  1872,  he  left  Newark  with  regret,  confiding  the  dio- 
cese which  he  had  formed  to  the  Very  Rev.  Michael  A.  Corrigan, 
who,  as  Vicar-General  and  President  of  Seton  Hall  College, 
had  shown  piety,  learning,  and  administrative  ability.  He  was 
soon  after  appointed  to  succeed  Dr.Bayley,  and  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Newark,  May  4th,  1S73.  Under  his  care  the  Church 
has  progressed  even  more.  The  theological  seminary  at  South 
Orange  took  a  distinct  form  ;  the  Jesuit  Fathers  began  their 
labors  at  Jersey  City,  and,  in  1878,  opened  St.  Peter's  College ; 
the  Dominicans  founded  a  church  in  Newark ;  the  exiled  Fran- 
ciscan Fathers,  at  Paterson  ;  tlie  Capuchins,  at  Fort  Lee  ;  v.hile 
Brothers  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Sisters  of  Mercy,  Sisters  of  St.  Jo- 


IN  THE  UJflTED  STATE3.  495 

seph,  of  St.  Francis,  and  of  St.  Dominic,  with  Sisters  of  Chris- 
tian Charity,  and  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  increased  ihc 
ranks  of  those  hiboiing  in  the  cause  of  education  or  charity. 

In  1S78  the  diocese  contained  127  churches,  with  IGO  priests; 
numerous  coilegvs  and  academies,  76  parochial  schools,  with 
20,000  pupils,  and  an  estimated  Catholic  population  of  186,000. 

One  great  object  of  the  Bi^hop's  ze;d  was  to  secure  for  Catho- 
lics in  the  penal  and  eleemosynary  establishments  of  the  State 
freedom  to  worship  God  according  to  the  regulations  of  their 
own  faith  ;  but  the  Protestant  religion,  in  its  most  intolerant 
type,  is  too  firmly  established  by  law,  and  every  concession  to 
the  Catholics  was  steridy  refused.  The  Bishop  established  a 
Catholic  Keformatory,  but  the  same  hideous  intolerance  refused 
to  incorporate  it  or  aid  its  benevolent  labor  for  the  public  good. 


496 


THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 
1853,  1854. 

Mission  of  the  Nuncio,  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Bedinl,  to  the  United  States. 

Early  iu  the  year  1852,  Pope  Pius  IX.  commissioned  the  Most 
Rev.  Cajetan  Bedini,  Archbishop  ot'Thebes,and  Nuncio  to  Brazil, 
to  visit  the  United  States.  Mr.  Louis  Cass,  the  Charge  d' Affaires 
of  the  United  States  at  Rome,  assured  the  Cardinal  Secretary  of 
State  that  the  Government  of  Washington  would  behold  with 
pleasure  the  mission  of  Archbishop  Bedini,  and,  in  consequence, 
that  prelate  set  out  for  New  York.  His  arrival  at  first  gave  no 
umbrage  to  the  American  Protestants.  After  a  short  stay  at  New 
York,  Baltimore,  and  Philadelphia,  the  Apostolic  envoy,  accom- 
panied by  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Hughes,  proceeded  as  far 
West  as  Milwaukie,  studying  with  the  bishops  the  state  of  religion 
in  these  dioceses,  visiting  the  convents  and  colleges,  and  charming 
all  who  approached  him  by  his  lofty  views,  distinguished  man- 
ners, and  courteous  address.  At  Washington  he  presented  to 
President  Pierce  the  following  autograph  letter  of  His  Holiness: 


"  Illustrious  and  honored  Sir,  Greeting  : 

"  As  our  venerable  brother,  the  Archbishop  of  Thebes,  accred- 
■'ted  as  our  envoy  in  ordinary,  and  Nuncio  of  the  Apostolic  Se^ 
near  the  Imperial  Court  of  Brazil,  has  been  directed  by  us  to 
visit  those  regions  (the  United  States),  w^e  have  at  the  same 
time  especially  charged  him  to  present  himself  in  our  name  be- 
fore your  Excellency,  and  to  deliver  into  your  hands  these  our 
letters,  together  with  many  salutations,  and  to  express  to  you,  in 
the  warmest  language,  the  sentiments  we  entertain  towards  you, 
which  he  will  testify.  We  take  it  for  granted  that  these  friendly 
demonstrations  on  our  part  will  be  agreeable  to  you ;  and  least 
of  all  do  we  doubt  but  that  the  aforesaid  venerable  brother,  a 


IN"  THE   UNITED   STATES.  497 

man  eminently  distinguished  for  the  sterling  qualities  of  mind 
and  heart  which  characterize  him,  will  be  kindly  received  by 
your  Excellency.  And  inasmuch  as  we  have  been  intrusted  by 
Di^^ne  commission  with  the  care  of  the  Lord's  flock  throughout 
the  world,  we  cannot  allow  this  opportunity  to  pass  without 
earnestly  entreating  you  to  extend  your  protection  to  the  Catho- 
lics inhabiting  those  regions,  and  to  shield  them  at  all  times  with 
your  power  and  authority.  Feeling  confident  that  your  Excel- 
lency will  very  willingly  accede  to  our  wishes,  and  grant  our 
requests,  we  shall  not  fail  to  offer  up  our  humble  supplications 
to  Almighty  God,  that  He  may  bestow  upon  you,  illustrious  and 
honored  Sir,  the  gift  of  His  heavenly  grace,  that  He  may  shower 
upon  you  every  kind  of  blessing,  and  unite  us  in  the  bonds  of 
perfect  charity. 

'•  Given  at  Rome,  in  the  Vatican,  March  31, 1853,  the  seventh 
of  our  Pontificate. 

"  Pius  IX.,  Pope. 
**  To  his  Excellency  the 

*'  President  of  the  United  States."** 


*  "  Pros  P  P.  IX. 

•'  ILLU3TRIS  ET  H0N0RABILI3  ViR,  SaLTJTEM  : 

"  Cum  venerabilis  Prater  Cajetanus,  Archiepiscopus  Thebanorum  ad  ordi- 
narii  nostri  et  Apostolicse  Sedis  Nuntii  munus  apud  Imperialem  Brazilien- 
Bem  aulam  obeundum  a  nobis  destiuatus  per  istus  transeat  regiones,  eidcm 
in  prsecipuis  mandatis  dedimus  ut  nostro  Nomine  Nobilitateni  tuara  conve- 
niat,  Tibique  has  nostras  reddat  Litteras,  plurimam  salutera  dicat  et  simul 
nostri  in  te  animi  sensus  luculentis  verbis  exprimat  atque  testetur. 

"  Procerto  habemns  hajc  nostra  in  te  stndia  pergrata  tibi  fore,  ac  minime 
dubitamus,  quineundom  Venerabilem  Fratrem  egregiis  animi,  ingeniique 
dotibus  ornatum  pro  eximia  tua  humanitate,  benignissime  sis  excepturus. 
Et  quoniam  uuiversi  Dominici  gregis  cura  nobis  divinitus  est  cominissa, 
idcirco  baud  possumus  quin  hac  quoqne  occasione  libentissime  utentes,  a 
Te  totis  viribus  enixa  efflagitemus,  ut  Catholicos  in  istis  regionibus  degentes 
valido  Tuo  patrociuio  et  auctoritate  tegere  et  tueri  semper  velis.  Dum 
antem  confidiraus,  Nobilitatem  tuam  nostris  hisce  desideriis  ac  postula- 
tionibus  perlibentcr  esse  satisfacturam  baud  omittimus  a  Deo  optimo 
Maximo  humiliter  exposcere,  ut  Te,  lUustris  et  ilonorabilis  Vir,  coelestia 

22 


498  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

Italian  revolutionfiry  papers  and  a  part  of  the  American, 
naver  scrupulous  in  taking  up  anything  to  attack  the  Church, 
immediately  made  war  on  Mgf.  Bedini,  and  made  him  responsi- 
ble for  the  executions  in  Bologna  under  the  Austrian  rule.  An 
attempt  was  made  to  assassinate  the  envoy  of  the  Pope;  and,  in 
his  visits  to  the  West,  he  was  assailed  by  mob  violence,  especially 
at  Cincinnati.  The  whole  movement,  however,  was  confined 
almost  exclusively  to  Italian  and  German  Radicals,  the  fore- 
runners of  Communism. 


CHAPTER    XXYTII. 

1854-1856. 
Eeaction  against  the  Catholics— Organization  of  the  Know-Nothtngs. 

As  we  have  said,  the  Americans,  generally,  kept  aloof  from 
the  manifestations  against  the  Nuncio-apostohc,  as  the  Germans 
themselves  avowed.  Still^  Protestant  fanaticism,  dormant  since 
the  riots  of  1844,  was  aroused  by  the  anti-Catholic  ravings  of 
the  political  refugees  of  1848,  and  especially  by  the  envenomed 
pi-eachings  of  Gavazzi ;  and  a  new  coalition  against  the  Catholics 


Buse  gratiee  donis,  omnique  verae  felicitatis  genere  cumulet,  ac  perfecta  nobis 
cum  caritiite  conjungat. 

"  Datum  Eomse  apud  S.  Petrum  die  31  Martii,  anno  1853,  Pontificatua 
nostri  anno  Beptim©. 

"ProsP  P.  IX." 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  499 

was  formed  in  the  shades  of  secret  oath-bound  chibs.  The  ene- 
mies of  religion,  known  ten  years  before  as  Natives,  now  gave 
their  organization  a  new  name,  without  changing  its  character  ; 
and  the  Kuow-Nothings  soon  adopted  a  system  of  provocation  and 
outrage  against  the  Catholics.  The  name  they  chose  characterizes 
well  this  class  of  fanatics,  whose  ignorance  is  pitiable,  and  who, 
since  the  days  of  Luther,  have  learned  no  truths,  and  forgotten 
no  fable.  They  still  seek  to  celebrate  by  acts  of  Vandalism  the 
emancipation  of  their  reason,  and  believe  that,  by  destroying 
churches,  they  will  destroy  Catholicity.  Their  first  plan  was  to 
employ  mad  preachers  to  declaim  against  Popery  in  the  public 
streets  and  squares,  in  hopes  of  provoking  the  Catholics,  and  es- 
pecially the  Irish  Catholics,  to  resent  their  insolence.  Then, 
after  the  precedent  of  1844,  they  rush  on  the  Catholics ;  the 
alarm  is  given,  the  conspirators  flock  together  from  all  sides, 
under  the  pretext  of  protecting  liberty  of  speech,  and  the  mob 
hurries  to  the  nearest  church,  already  marked  out  in  their  coun- 
cils for  the  vengeance  of  impiety. 

In  the  month  of  December,  1853,  tumultuous  meetings  took 
place  at  New  York,  in  consequence  of  the  preaching  in  the 
streets  of  a  porter  named  Parsons.  The  militia  were  called 
out,  but  in  consequence  of  a  letter  from  Archbishop  Hughes, 
who  recommended  the  Catholics  to  keep  aloof  from  all  such 
gatherings,  no  collision  gratified  the  efforts  of  malice.  Sunday 
after  Sunday,  Parsons  thundered  away  against  the  Pope  and 
the  Church,  surrounded  by  an  armed  band.  Orr,  a  madman, 
who  assumed  the  name  of  the  Angel  Gabriel,  and  whose  path  in 
Scotland  and  Guiana  may  be  traced  in  fire  and  blood,  next  fol- 
lowed the  same  course  ;  and  ere  long  preaching  in  the  open  air 
became  the  order  of  the  day  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  United 
States ;  and  although  the  Catholics  bore  these  insults  without  com- 
plaint, they  did  not,  withal,  escape  being  frequently  the  victims  of 
passions  excited  by  their  enemies.     On  the  3d  of  July,  1854,  a 


500  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

furious  mob  rushed  on  tlie  church  of  Manchester,  in  the  State  of 
New  Hampshire,  and  destroyed  it  from  top  to  bottom.  The  riot 
lasted  for  two  days,  and  all  the  houses  inhabited  by  Catholics 
suffered  more  or  less.  On  the  same  day,  and  in  the  same  State, 
the  church  of  Dorchester  was  destroyed  by  an  explosion,  the 
Know-Nothings  having  blown  it  up  with  powder.  On  the  8th 
of  July,  at  Bath,  in  the  State  of  Maine,  a  mob,  led  by  the  furi- 
ous Orr,  burst  in  the  church  doors ;  and  while  some  made  a  pile 
of  the  pulpit  and  altar,  others  climbed  the  steeple  and  tore  down 
the  cross.  Then  the  whole  church  was  reduced  to  ashes,  in  pres- 
ence of  a  considerable  crowd,  and  amid  the  exulting  cries  of  the 
sacrilegious  incendiaries.  A  year  after,  on  Sunday,  November 
18th,  1855,  the  Right  Rev.  David  W.  Bacon,  the  newly  conse- 
crated Bishop  of  Portland,  attempted  to  lay  the  corner-stone  of  a 
new  church  on  the  site  of  that  destroyed,  but  the  people  would 
not  permit  it ;  a  mob  took  possession  of  the  place,  overthrew  all 
that  had  been  prepared  for  the  ceremony,  broke  the  crosses,  and 
beat  all  who  showed  any  disapprobation  of  their  conduct. 

On  the  4th  of  September,  1854,  the  German  church  at  New- 
ark, in  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  was  demolished  in  broad  day- 
light, by  an  Orange  procession  from  New  York,  on  the  pretext 
that  a  pistol  had  been  fired  on  the  procession  from  a  window  in 
the  church.  The  assertion  was  entirely  destitute  of  foundation, 
as  all  the  independent  papers  admitted,  and  as  the  judicial  in- 
vestigation proved.  The  Socialist  paper  of  New  York,  the 
Tribune^  on  this  occasion  observed  justly,  "  It  is  worthy  of  re- 
mark, that  while  five  or  six  Catholic  churches  in  this  country 
have  been  destroyed  or  ruined  by  an  excited  populace,  not  a  sin- 
gle Protestant  church  can  be  pointed  out  which  Catholics  have 
even  thought  of  attacking." 

The  procession  was  armed,  and,  in  firing  on  the  spectators, 
killed  several ;  but  even  this  could  not  provoke  any  breach  ol 
the  peace  on  the  part  of  the  Catholics. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  501 

On  the  8th  of  November  in  the  same  year,  the  day  after  an 
ejection,  in  which  the  Know-Nothings  had  almost  everywhere 
t'-iumphed,  the  latter  celebrated  their  victory  by  attacking  a 
Catholic  church  at  Williamsburg,  near  New  York.  They  tort 
down  the  railing,  broke  in  the  doors,  and  carried  off  the  cross  in 
fjiumph  to  their  place  of  meeting.  Insult  to  the  symbol  of  our 
'f^demption,  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man,  is  indeed  the  noblest  of 
exploits  in  their  eyes.  The  military  arrived  just  as  they  were 
^oing  to  set  fire  to  the  church,  and  after  arresting  the  trustees 
and  such  Catholics  as  they  found,  protected  the  church  from 
ruin.  As  usual,  the  rioters  pretended  that  they  had  been  pro- 
voked by  the  Catholics,  and  that  they  wished  to  avenge  the 
death  of  one  of  their  party  killed  dm-ing  the  election  ;  but  the 
inquest  proved  that  the  principal  author  of  the  troubles,  a  man 
named  Lee,  arrested  as  the  murderer,  was  an  Orangeman  spe- 
cially appointed  to  make  trouble. 

Th'i5  our  churches,  reared  at  the  expense  of  so  many  sacrifices 
and  1  ■  berai  alms,  are  at  the  mercy  of  the  first  miscreant ;  for  in 
not  one  single  instance  on  record  in  the  whole  United  States  of 
America  has  an  author  or  promoter  of  such  a  work  of  destruc- 
tion been  punished,  and  in  very  few  instances  has  even  the  mock- 
ery of  a  judicial  prosecution  been  adopted.  And  while  the  mob, 
unchecked  and  unpunished,  seeks  to  destroy  the  edifice,  the 
State  governments,  under  the  impulse  of  the  same  feeling,  pass 
laws  to  confiscate  all  the  property  held  by  the  Catholic  prelates 
and  clergy  for  pious  and  charitable  uses. 

But  the  fanaticism  is  not  content  with  destroying  the  church, 
or  seizing  the  property,  it  sought  also  to  intimidate  the  clergy ; 
and  two  events,  one  in  the  North  and  the  other  in  the  South,  ex-' 
cited  alarm  amid  the  Catholic  population. 

In  the  spring  of  1854,  Father  John  Bapst,  a  Jesuit,  and  pastor 
of  the  Catholics  at  Ellsworth  in  the  State  of  Maine,  asked  the 
bcnoolmasters  to  exempt  the  Catholixj  children  from  reading  the 


502  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Protestant  version  of  the  Bible;  and  lie  made  his  request  so 
mildly  that  the  teachers  conformed.  The  school-committee, 
however,  interfered,  and  ordered  the  teachers  to  make  the  Cath- 
olic children  read  the  Protestant  Bible  under  pain  of  expulsion. 
The  Catholics  appealed  to  the  competent  tribunal  to  establish 
their  rights,  and  this  step  so  exasperated  the  fanatics  against  Fa- 
ther Bapst,  that  the  town-meeting,  espousing  the  cause  of  the 
school-committee,  adopted  the  following  resolution,  inscribed  or. 
the  records  of  the  town  on  the  8th  of  July,  1854  : 

"  AVhereas  we  have  reasons  to  believe  that  we  are  indebted  to 
one  John  Bapst,  S.  J.,  Catholic  priest,  for  the  luxury  of  the  pres- 
ent lawsuit,  now  enjoyed  by  the  school-committee  of  Ellsworth, 
therefore 

"  Resolved^  That  should  the  said  Bapst  be  found  again  on  Ells- 
worth soil,  we  manifest  our  gratitude  for  his  kindly  interference 
with  our  free  schools  and  attempts  to  banish  the  Bible  therefrom, 
by  procuring  for  him  and  trying  on  an  entire  suit  of  new  clothes, 
such  as  cannot  be  found  at  the  shop  of  any  tailor,  and  that  thus 
apparelled  he  be  presented  with  a  free  ticket  to  leave  Ellsworth 
upon  the  first  railroad  operation  that  may  go  into  effect."  "^ 

This  resolution,  welcomed  with  applause,  passed  without  a  dis- 
senting voice,  and  the  council,  far  from  blushing  at  the  act^  de- 
cided that  it  should  be  published  in  the  two  papers  of  the  place. 

Father  Bapst,  who  resides  at  Bangor,  went  to  Ellsworth  on 
Saturday,  the  14th  of  October,  to  celebrate  Mass  there  the  ne^'.t 
day.  In  the  evening,  at  a  meeting  of  the  two  fire  companies  of 
Ellsworth,  it  was  proposed  and  adopted  to  put  in  execution  the 
resolution  of  the  council ;  and  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening 
the  mob  surrounded  the  house  of  Mr.  Kent,  whose  hospitality 
the  missionary  was  enjoying,  and  where  he  was  actually  hearing 
confessions.  Father  Bapst  was  dragged  out  of  the  house,  stripped 
of  his  clothes,  placed  on  a  rail,  and  borne  along  amid  the  taunts 
and  insults  of  these  hellhounds,  till  the  rail  bi caking  dashed  on 


IN   THE   UNITED    STATES.  503 

the  ground  the  victim  of  this  outrage.*  Then  they  covered  his 
naked  body  with  melted  tar,  and  rolling  him  in  feathers  left  him. 
"  It  would  be  impossible,"  wrote  an  eye-witness,  "  to  repeat  the 
horrible  blasphemies  and  indecencies  of  that  terrible  night ;  but 
all  that  the  imagination  can  conceive  short  of  absolute  mutilation 
an<l  bloodshed  was  accomplished  by  the  impious  wretches.  The 
outrage  lasted  two  hours,  a  cold  rain  falling  all  the  while." 

When  his  assailants,  weary  with  tormenting  him,  left  Father 
Bapst  amid  the  mud,  rain,  and  darkness,  he  dragged  himself 
alone  to  the  house  of  his  host,  and  spent  a  long  time  in  cleansing 
himself  from  the  filth,  tar,  and  feathers  with  which  he  had  been 
cc/ered.  in  order  to  calm  his  moral  and  physical  sufferings, 
Mr.  Kent  pressed  him  to  take  some  food,  or  at  least  a  drink ;  but 
it  was  past  midnight,  and  the  heroic  priest,  who  had  come  to 
celebrate  Mass  on  Sunday,  preferred  to  bear  the  burning  thirst 
rather  than  break  his  fast.  "  Sitio,"  said  his  Divine  Master.  Fa- 
ther Bapst  spent  the  rest  of  the  night  sleepless,  in  the  most  vio- 
lent nervous  agitation,  but  in  the  morning  his  duties  as  a  pastor 
enabled  him  to  surmount  his  suffering,  and  at  the  usual  hour  he 
celebrated  Mass  before  the  horror-stricken  Catholics  of  Ells- 
worth .f 

The  outrage  excited  general  indignation  throughout  the  United 
States,  and  though  the  grand  jury  refused  to  prosecute  the  well- 
known  authors  of  this  horrid  wrong,  the  Know-Nothings  gener- 
ally felt  that  they  had  gone  too  far.  The  malefactors  had  robbed 
Father  Bapst  of  his  watch  and  purse.  The  Protestants  of  Ban- 
gor made  up  a  subscription  to  offer  the  Jesuit  a  beautiful  gold 


*  One  at  all  events  assumed  the  person  of  the  arch-fiend,  exclaiming:  "So 
we  treated  Jesus  Clirist." 

V  Father  John  Bapst  was  bom  at  La  Roche,  canton  of  Fribourg,  in  1815, 
and  was  brouglit  up  at  the  Jesuit  College  in  that  city.  There  too  he  entered 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  remained  till  1848,  when  ho  was  sent  to  Maine. 
He  was  at  first  employed  on  the  Indian  missions,  and  then  stationed  at 
Bangor. 


504  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

watch,  and  accompanied  the  present  with  an  address,  in  which 
they  eloquently  protested  against  the  conduct  of  tho  people  ol 
Ellsworth. 

Some  months  after,  on  the  12th  of  May,  1855,  another  Jesuit, 
Father  F.  Nashon,  was  assaulted  near  Mobile  and  violently  beat- 
en ;  and  he  was  told  that  he  should  meet  a  similar  treatment  as 
often  as  he  should  attempt  to  go  and  say  Mass  in  the  village  ol 
Dog  River  Factory. 

We  do  not  make  the  leaders  of  the  Know-Nothing  party  re- 
sponsible for  all  the  crimes  of  which  we  have  only  given  those 
of  the  blackest  dye.  But  when  men  preach  fanaticism,  we  can-  _ 
not  be  astonished  at  their  exciting  such  hatred ;  if  the  wind  is 
sown,  the  whirlwind  must  be  reaped.  Ere  long  the  rapid  de- 
velopment of  their  secret  organization  enabled  the  plotters  to 
think  that  legal  means  would  suffice  to  check  the  onward  march 
of  Catholicity.  The  elections  of  November,  1854,  had  sent  to 
the  State  Assemblies  many  members  of  the  new  party.  Their 
influence  was  immediately  felt,  and  in  the  month  of  March,  1855, 
the  New  York  Legislature  enacted,  as  we  have  elsewhere  shown, 
that  every  legacy  or  donation  for  pious  or  charitable  uses  should 
be  null  unless  made  to  a  body  of  trustees,  and  in  other  ways  em- 
barrassing the  Catholic  bishops  and  clergy  in  carrying  out  the 
discipline  of  the  Church.  In  some  cases  the  State  absolutely 
cofiscated  the  property,  unless  the  Catholics  would  submit  to  be 
Protestantized  to  suit  the  caprice  of  a  Calvinist  legislature. 

On  its  side,  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  which  was  made 
up  to  a  considerable  extent  of  Protestant  ministers,  appointed  a 
committee  to  inspect  the  interior  of  the  convents ;  but  the  infa- 
mous conduct  of  this  committee,  and  the  examinations  to  which 
it  led,  covered  with  opprobrium  the  instigators  of  this  inquisito- 
''ial  measure.  In  their  visit  to  a  house  of  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame, 
at  Roxbury,  the  members  of  the  committee  acted  with  the  gross* 
est  indecency  ;  in  their  excursion  to  Lowell,  one  of  the  commit 


IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.  505 

tee  was  accompanied  by  a  loose  woman,  whose  expenses  he 
ch-Tred  to  the  State;  and  these  very  fair  samples  of  Massachu- 
setts guardians  of  public  morals,  going  to  see  whether  any  dis- 
orders existed  in  Catholic  convents,  themselves  gave  every  ex- 
ample of  dishonesty  and  debauchery.  The  whole  Know-Nothing 
party  bhished  at  the  dishonor  they  had  drawn  upon  themselves, 
and  to  satisfy  the  public  clamor  expelled  Mr.  Hiss,  one  of  their 
members,  making  him  the  scapegoat. 

The  St.  Louis  elections  of  1854,  closed  by  a  slaughter  of 
adopted  citizens;  but  the  events  at  Louisville  were  still  more 
deplorable.  On  the  6th  of  August,  1855,  at  the  occasion  of  the 
elections,  the  Know-Nothings  rushed  on  the  Catholics,  many 
houses  were  burned  or  pillaged,  more  than  twenty  persons  per- 
ished, some  in  the  flames,  others  beneath  the  murderous  hand  of 
the  assassin,  who  spared  not  even  women  or  children.  By  insin- 
uations worse  than  open  calumny  the  party  papers  pretended 
that  the  Catholic  'clergy,  and  even  the  Bishop,  excited  the  faith- 
ful to  acts  of  violence.  The  mob  advanced  on  the  Cathedral, 
threatening  to  set  it  on  fire,  under  pretence  that  the  Catholics 
had  amassed  arms  there.  At  this  juncture  Bishop  Spalding  con- 
fided the  keys  of  his  Cathedral  to  the  Mayor,  Avho  was  notoriously 
a  Know-Nothing,  and  he,  alarmed  at  the  responsibility  thrown 
upon  him,  calmed  the  rioters. 


606  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Early  history— French  missions  in  Maine— Chapel  in  Vermont— The  Kevolution— Part 

of  Diocese  of  Baltimore. 
Diocese  of  BosTO>f.— Eight  Key.  John  Cheverus— Right  Rev.  Benedict  J.  Femvick— 

Division  of  the  diocese— Right  Rev.  J.  B.  Fitzpatrick,  D.D.— Most  Rev.  John  J. 

Williams,  D.D.,  first  Archbishop. 
Diocese  Hartfokd.- Right  Rev.  William  Tyler,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  B.  O'Reilly,  D.D.— 

Right  Rev.  F.  P.  McFarland— Division  of  the  diocese— Right  Rev.  Thomas  Galberry 

O.S.A. 
Diocese  of  Burlington  .—Right  Rev.  Louis  de  Goesbriand,  D.D. 
Diocese  of  PoKTLAND.-Right  Rev.  D.  W.  Bacon,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  James  A.  Healy, 

D.D. 
Diocese  of  Springfield.— Right  Rev.     Patrick  Thomas  O'Reilly,  D.D. 
Diocese  of  Providence.— Right  Rev.  Thomas  F.  Kendricken,  D.D. 

The  first  French  settlement  of  Acadia,  a  province  which  they 
held  for  more  than  a  century,  was  at  Boone  Island,  within  the 
limits  of  what  is  now  New  England.  Here,  in  1604,  the  Rev. 
Nicholas  d'Aubri  offered  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass — the  pioneer 
of  the  Catholic  clergy  of  New  England.  In  March,  1613,  the 
Jesuit  Father  Biard,  and  his  companions,  attempted  to  found  a 
mission  settlement  on  the  Island  of  Mount  Desert,  but  it  was 
broken  up  by  Argal  before  they  had  fairly  landed.  Capuchin 
Fathers,  brought  over  by  the  Sieur  d'Aulnay,  had  chapels,  in 
1642,  on  the  Kennebec  and  Penobscot ;  and,  from  a  plate  under 
tlie  corner-stone  of  the  latter,  we  know  that  it  was  founded  June 
8tb,  1G48,  by  Father  Leo  of  Paris,  and  dedicated  to  Our  Lady 
of  Holy  Hope,  During  the  same  period,  the  Jesuit  Father 
Gabriel  Druillettes  founded,  on  the  Upper  Kennebec,  a  mission 
among  the  Indians,  the  results  of  which  are  seen  in  the  Catholic 
Pi^nobscots. 

The  English  settlements  at  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  Bay 
were  intensely  Protestant,  and  there  were  few,  if  any,  Catholics 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  507 

among  them,  although  Miles  Staiulish  was  of  a  Catholic  family. 
In  time,  some  Irish  Catholics  were  sold  over  here  as  indentured 
servants ;  and  the  first  victim  of  the  witch  excitement  was  a 
poor  old  Catholic  woman.  The  laws  prevented  any  Catholic 
priest  entering  the  colonies,  and  very  few  ventured.  Father 
Druillettes,  as  envoy  from  Canada,  visited  Boston,  Plymouth, 
and  New  Haven,  in  1650  and  1651.  Another  Jesuit  Father, 
John  Pierron,  traversed  New  England,  iu  disguise,  twenty  years 
later,  and  even  made  his  way  to  Maryland  overland,  but  found 
few  Catholics.  Priests  taken  prisoners  in  the  French  settlements 
were  occasionally  brought  to  Boston  ;  but  the  faith  made  no 
progress. 

In  the  raids  made  by  the  New  Englanders  into  the  part  of 
Maine  under  French  control,  the  Catholic  chapels  were  frequently 
destroyed  ;  that  on  the  Penobscot  in  17^3  ;  Rale's  church,  on  the 
Kennebec,  for  a  second  time,  in  1724,  when  he  was  killed. 

Besides  these  chapels  in  Maine,  there  was,  for  a  time,  another 
Catholic  chapel  on  New  England  soil,  that  in  the  Fort  St. 
Anne,  on  Isle  La  Motte  in  Lake  Champlain,  erected  in  1666. 

The  first  considerable  body  of  Catholics  who  entered  New 
England  were  two  thousand  Acadians,  torn  from  their  homes, 
and  landed  in  Massachusetts  in  1755.  These  were  scattered 
through  the  colony  without  priest  or  altar,  their  children  torn 
from  them  and  brought  up  as  Protestants.  The  next  year  a 
few  who,  escaping  from  the  South,  were  endeavoring  to  reach 
their  old  home,  were  seized  and  scattered.  These  exiles  gradu- 
ally died  or  escaped  ;  a  few  reached  Maine,  and  founded  a  settle- 
ment at  Madawaska, 

The  feeling  against  the  Church  in  New  Enoland,  down  to  the 
Revolution,  was  very  bitter;  Guy  Fawkes'  Day  was  celebrated 
as  the  Pope's  Day,  and  an  effigy  of  the  Pope  was  annually  burnt 
in  most  towns, 

Geoige  Washington  is  to  be  honored  iu  giving  Catholicity 


508  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

the  first  impulse  in  New  England,  by  prohibiting  this  custom  in 
his  c;anp  ;  and  writing  to  the  Catholic  Indians  to  ynn  the  cause 
of  the  Colonies.     They  did  so,  led  by  the  brave  Orano. 

On  the  arrival  of  d'Estaing's  fleet  at  Boston,  in  1778,  the  ser- 
vices of  the  Catholic  Church  were  for  the  first  time  optnly 
performed  in  Massachusetts.  When  the  war  closed,  and  free- 
dom was  achieved  by  the  aid  of  France,  a  better  feeling  pre- 
vailed. A  little  congregation  of  a  few  Frenchmen  and  Spaniards, 
and  thirty  Irishmen,  was  gathered  in  Boston  by  the  Rev.  Claude 
de  la  Potherie,  in  the  old  Huguenot  church,  which  now  took 
the  name  of  the  Holy  Cross.  In  1790,  the  pastor  of  the  little 
flock,  then  numbering  about  100,  was  a  famous  American  con- 
vert, the  Rev.  John  Thayer,  who,  in  public  controversies,  de- 
fended the  Catholic  doctrine  with  great  warmth.  In  1 792,  Bishop 
Carroll  sent  to  Boston  the  Rev.  Francis  Matignon,  a  French  priest 
of  great  piety  and  learning.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Ciqnard  was  sent 
to  the  Penobscots,  who  had  written  to  the  bishop,  sending  a 
crucifix  of  one  of  their  former  pastors,  and  asking  for  a  priest.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Matignon  was  soon  joined  by  the  Rev.  John  Cheverus, 
and  these  two  French  priests,  driven  from  their  own  country  by 
the  Revolution,  won  many  to  the  faith  in  New  England.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Cheverus  extended  his  labors  as  far  as  the  Penobscot, 
ministering  to  the  Indians  and  the  scattered  Catholics.  It  was 
a  mission  of  hardship  and  strange  danger,  for,  on  one  occasion, 
he  was  indicted  and  brought  to  trial  for  marrying  a  Catholic 
couple,  on  the  ground  that,  as  a  Catholic  priest  of  Boston,  he 
could  not  act  in  Maine.  The  holy  and  learned  priest  was  actu- 
ally placed  in  the  dock  for  trial  with  thieves  and  drunkards. 
Meanwhile  other  priests  came,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Romagne  to  labor 
among  the  Indians,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Songe,  near  Hartford. 

In  1799,  tiie  Church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  on  Franklin  Square, 
Boston,  was  erected,  and  solemnly  dedicated  by  Bishop  Carroll, 
September  29Lh,  1803. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  509 

When  Bishop  Carroll  at  last  obtained  a  division  of  his  vast 
diocese,  a  new  see  was  erected  at  Boston  in  1808,  and  Mr. 
Cheverus  was  appointed  bishop,  his  diocese. embracing  all  New 
England.  He  was  born  at  Mayenne,  France,  January  28th, 
17(58  ;  ordained  in  1790,  at  the  last  ordination  in  Paris;  he  was 
consecrated  in  Baltimore,  November  1st,  1810.  He  at  once 
made  a  visitation  of  his  diocese,  conferring  the  sacrament  of  con- 
firmation. Two  zealous  young  seminarians  from  Kilkenny,  Byrne 
and  Ryan,  were  ordained  by  him,  and  became  valuable  assistants. 
New  churches  then  sprang  up  at  Salem,  New  Bedford,  and  South 
Boston,  in  Massachusetts;  at  Daniariscotta  and  Whitefield, 
Maine  ;  and  before  many  years  at  Claremont,  New  Hampshire, 
where  a  convert,  the  Rev.  Virgil  H.  Barber,  formed  a  congre- 
gation. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Thayer,  though  called  to  other  fields,  long  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  endowing  Boston  with  a  religious  community 
of  women,  and,  not  only  collected  means  for  the  purpose,  but 
inspired  the  Ursulines  of  Ireland  with  zeal  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. A  colony  came  over,  w^ho  founded  a  house  near  the  Ca- 
thedral, which  was  subsequently  removed,  to  Charlestown,  July 
17th,  1826. 

Bishop  Cheverus,  who  had  endeared  himself  to  all  by  his 
charity  and  love  of  the  poor,  who  had  zealously  instructed  his 
flock,  diffusing  good  books,  himself  preparing  a  prayer-book  and 
a  French  Testament,  was  transferred  to  the  see  of  Montauban,  in 
1823,  and  subsequently  became  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  and 
Cardinal. 

The  diocese  of  Boston  was  then  administered  by  the  Very 
Rev.  William  Taylor,  till  the  consecration  of  the  Right  Rev. 
Benedict  J.  Fenwick,  as  Bishop  of  Boston,  November  1st,  1825. 
Dr.  Fenwick  was  a  native  of  Leonardtown,  Maryland,  born 
September  3d,  1782.  In  his  large  diocese  he  found  only  three 
priests.    He  visited  his  charge,  enlarged  his  cathedral,  established 


510  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

schools,  and  began  a  seminary  to  train  priests  for  the  altar,  so 
that,  in  December,  1827,  he  oidained  two  priests.  St.  Mary's 
Church,  Cliarlestown,  was  begun  in  1828. 

In  1832,  Sister  Ann  Alexis,  with  two  other  Sisters  of  Charity, 
came  to  Boston  to  begin  their  wonderful  labors  in  orphan 
asylums,  schools,  hospital?,  and  visits  to  the  sick. 

By  1834,  there  were  also  churches  at  Waltham,  Lowell,  Sand- 
wich and  Taunton,  in  Massachusetts  ;  Newport  and  Pawtucket, 
Rhode  Island  ;  Hartford  and  New  Haven,  Connecticut ;  Dover, 
New  Hampshire  ;  and  at  Burlington  and  Pittsford,  Vermont. 
In  Maine  additional  churches  were  erected  also  at  Portland  and 
Eastport,  and  a  second  Indian  church  established.  The  dio- 
cese could  boast  of  twenty-one  churches  and  twenty-five  priests, 
with  a  Catholic  body  estimated  at  25,000. 

But  an  anti- Catholic  movement  was  then  at  its  height.  In 
the  very  part  of  the  country  which  boasts  most  of  its  culture  and 
self-command,  men  who  dishonored  the  religion  they  professed, 
preached  falsehood  against  Catholicity,  and  hounded  on  their 
dupes  to  violence.  Fictitious  narratives  were  put  forward, 
tricked  out  like  a  sensation  novel.  The  result  was,  that  on  the 
11th  of  August,  1834,  a  mob,  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  author- 
ities, attacked  the  Ursuline  convent  at  Charlestown  by  night,  and 
set  fire  to  it,  destroying  the  institution,  and  driving  the  nuns 
and  their  pupils  from  the  blazing  building.  One  of  the  pious 
community  soon  died  from  the  effect  of  that  terrible  night,  so 
that  their  violence  really  culminated  in  murder.  But,  though 
the  farce  of  trying  a  few  rioters  was  performed,  no  one  was  ever 
punished,  nor  during  these  forty-four  years  has  one  cent  of 
compensation  been  paid. 

Terrible  as  this  blow  was,  the  bishop  and  his  faithful  flock  per- 
severed, conscious  that  those  who  invoked  mob  violence  against 
the  Church  would,  in  a  few  years,  look  to  the  Church  as  the 
great  bulwark  of  society  against  violence  that  threatened  it. 


IN"  THE  UNTTED  STATES.  611 

In  1842,  the  first  Synod  of  the  Diocese  of  Boston  was  as- 
sembled, and  regulations  made  to  carry  out  the  decrees 
adopted  iu  the  Provincial  CouiieiLs  held  at  Baltimore  from  1829 
to  18-40.  The  wants  of  the  New  England  Catholics  were  here 
seen,  and,  in  tlie  Couneil  held  at  Baltimore  ihe  following  year, 
the  Fathers  solicited  from  the  Holy  See  the  erection  of  a  new 
see  at  Hartford,  with  jurisdiction  over  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island. 

In  18-43,  Bishop  Fenwick  purchased  an  estate  at  Worcester, 
and  founded  the  College  of  the  Holy  Cross,  which  has  for  many 
years  been  directed  by  the  Fatheis  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and 
is  the  great  Catholic  University  of  New  England. 

In  18-44,  the  diocese  of  Hartfoid  was  taken  from  that  of 
Boston,  and  the  Right  Rev.  John  B.  Fitzpatrick,  born  in  Boston, 
November  1st,  1812,  was  conseciated  as  coadjutor  to  Bishop 
Fenwick,  whose  life  was  nearly  closed.  He  died  in  Boston, 
August  11th,  1846,  revered  for  his  long  and  devoted  ministry 
as  priest  and  bishop — prudent,  learned,  and  charitable. 

Under  the  administration  of  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  churches  and 
institutions  increased.  At  his  succession  to  the  see,  Massachu- 
setts had  27  churches,  and  31  priests  ;  New  Hampshire  had  3 
churches,  at  Dover,  Claremont, and  Portsmouth,  with  2  priests; 
Vermont  had  1  church  and  1  priest,  with  stations  served  from 
New  Hampshire ;  Maine  had  5  priests  and  14  churches.  By 
1853,  Massachusetts  had  50  churches.  The  College  of  the  Holy 
Cross  was  temporarily  suspended,  part  of  the  buildings  having 
been  destroyed  by  fire  in  1852,  and  the  House  of  the  Angel 
Guardian,  a  reformatory  for  boys,  had  been  established  at  Boston 
by  the  Rev.  George  F.  Haskins.  The  Holy  See,  at  the  solicita- 
tion of  the  Bishop,  established  new  sees,  in  1853,  at  Portland, 
for  the  States  of  Maine  and  New  Hampshire,  and  at  Burlington 
for  the  State  of  Vermont. 

The  next  year  an  anti-Catholic  tornado  swept  over  the  couu- 


512  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

try.  Massachusetts  renewed  her  iniquity  of  1834.  The  Catholic 
church  building  at  Dorchester  was  blown  up;  the  church  at 
Bath  burnetl  to  the  ground  ;  the  houses  of  Catholics  at  Man- 
chester wrecked,  and  their  church  attacked.  As  if  these  outrages 
by  the  lawless  were  not  sufficient,  the  General  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts degraded  itself  by  appointing  a  committee  to  invade  the 
privacy  of  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  who  had  just  opened  an 
academy  at  Roxbury,  and  were  directing  schools  in  Boston.  Be- 
fore the  committee  concluded  its  labors,  they  were  exposed  to 
the  public  as  a  set  of  degraded  men  setting  all  morality  at  defi- 
ance. Such  were  the  models  of  purity  selected  by  the  proud 
State  of  Massachusetts  ! 

A  few  years  later,  the  State  showed  its  bigotry  and  injustice 
by  causing  a  Catholic  boy  to  be  flogged,  at  the  Elliot  street 
school,  for  refusing  to  recite  the  Protestant  form  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer ;  although  every  scholar  in  Boston  would  admit  that  the 
form  is  spurious,  and  so  marked  in  critical  Greek  Testaments. 
Bishop  Fitzpatrick,  in  a  letter  to  the  school  board,  by  calm  ar- 
gument, so  placed  them  in  the  wrong,  that  the  sensible  men 
among  them  took  alarm,  and,  fearing  that  the  Catholics  might 
withdraw  in  a  body  fiom  the  schools,  they,  for  the  first  time,  ad- 
mitted Catholics  to  the  school  committee.  But  it  was  too  late. 
There  was  no  choice  except  to  establish  parochial  schools,  and 
higher  Catholic  academies.  Boston  College  was  established  by 
the  Jesuit  Fathers;  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  began  a  hospital  and 
school  at  Woicester ;  and  parochial  schools  were  established  in 
Boston,  South  and  East  Boston,  Salem  and  Lawrence.  In  1866, 
the  diocese  of  Boston  had  115  churches,  110  priests,  2  orphan 
asylums,  one  a  magnificent  building  with  126  orphan  girls ;  the 
Carney  Hospital  in  South  Boston,  and  the  House  of  the  Angel 
Guardian  at  Roxbury.  Such  was  the  condition  of  the  diocese 
when  Bishop  Fitzpatrick  expired,  February  18th,  1866. 

The  Very  Rev.  John  J.  Williams,  V.  G.,   was  consecrated 


>^ 


ORESTES  AUGUSTUS  BRUWNSON,  LL.D. 


IN-  THE  UNITED  STATES.  513 

Bishop  of  Boston,  March  11th,  186G.  Under  Lis  impulse  tlie 
development  of  churclics  and  institutions  went  on  :  the  Gray 
Nuns  (Sisters  of  Charity  of  Montreal),  and  Sisters  of  the  Third 
Order  of  St.  Francis,  began  their  labors  in  1866.  Lowell  had 
a  convent,  with  hospitals  and*  schools  ;  Chicopee  had  its  con- 
vent;  Boston  saw  a  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd  founded  ;  then 
came  a  convent  of  Sisters  of  Men^y  at  Worcester  ;  while,  be- 
sides the  secular  clergy,  Franciscan,  Oblate,  and  Augustinian 
were  laboring,  to  be  joined  soon  by  the  Redemptorists.  In  1870, 
the  diocese  contained  I-IS  churches,  with  183  priests,  5  colleges 
or  academies,  12  benevolent  institutions,  and  a  Catholic  popula- 
tion of  more  than  350,000,  fully  aroused  to  the  necessities  of 
their  position.  P^or  the  third  tiuie  a  division  was  to  be  made. 
The  Holy  Sec,  in  June,  1870,  established  a  see  at  Springfield, 
with  a  diocese  embracing  Berkshire,  Franklin,  Hampshire, 
Hampden,  and  "Worcester  counties  ;  and,  in  1872,  erected  the 
see  of  Providence,  placed  under  its  jurisdiction  Bristol,  Barn- 
stable, and  part  of  Plymouth  counties,  with  the  islands. 

In  1875,  Boston  was  mada  an  Archiepiscopal  See,  the  Most 
Rev.  John  Joseph  Williams  being  created  first  archbishop,  on 
the  12th  of  February ;  the  Bishops  of  Portland,  Burlington, 
Springfield,  Hartford,  and  Providence  being  his  suftVagans. 

Thus,  in  1878,  Boston,  where  Matignon  and  Cheverus  strug- 
gled alone  in  their  little  church,  has  a  new  and  elegant  cathedral 
*«  and  27  other  churches  ;  the  rest  of  the  diocese  having  just  100 
more,  and  claiming  a  Catholic  population  of  more  than  310,000. 
They  have  16  free  schools,  with  nearly  9,000  pupils.  Few 
dioceses  are  better  supplied  with  literary  and  benevolent  institu- 
tions, persecution  by  mob  and  legislature  having  made  the  Cath- 
olic body  instinct  with  life. 

DIOCESE  OF   HAKTFORD. 

After  the  visits  of  Fathers  Druillettes  and  Pierrou  we  have  no 


514  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

notice  of  the  presence  of  any  Catholic  priest  in  Connecticut  till 
the  period  uf  the  Revolution.  The  array  of  Rochambeau 
marched  across  the  State  from  Pawtucket  to  the  banks  of  the 
Hudson.  Mass  was  regularly  said  in  the  camp;  but  the  Abbe 
Robin,  one  of  the  chaplains,  in  his  published  "  Voyage/'  does 
not  note  any  of  the  places  where  the  holy  sacrifice  was  otiered, 
though  tradition  points  to  a  plain  near  Wethersfield  as  one  of 
the  spots. 

Among  the  French  exiled  by  the  Revolution  was  a  nobleman 
who  settled  near  Hartford,  where  his  chaplain,  Rev.  Mr.  Songe, 
who  spoke  English,  officiated  in  1797-8.  Rev.  Mr.  Matiguon 
vtsited  Hartford  in  1813;  and  the  Very  Rev.  John  Power,  in 
October,  1827,  celebrated  mass  in  an  abandoned  building  on  the 
river  bank;  the  Rev.  R.  D.  Woodley,  sent  by  Bishop  Fenwick, 
in  1828,  founded  a  regular  mission,  and  an  upper  room  at  204 
Main  street,  became  a  chapel,  where  Bishop  Fenwick  officiated 
himself  the  following  year.  The  Taylors'  converts  were  active. 
An  Episcopal  church  was  purchased,  and  dedicated,  June  17th, 
1830,  as  the  "  Church  of  the  Holy  and  Undivided  Trinity." 
The  priest  at  Hartford  visited  far  and  wide  wherever  Catholics 
were.  New  Haven's  first  chapel  was  a  barn  ;  then  a  room  was 
hired  where  mass  was  said  four  or  five  times  a  year.  There  was 
great  difficulty  in  obtaining  a  permanent  place,  so  strong  was  the 
feeling  against  us;  but,  in  1833,  a  lot  was  purchased  by  the  Rev. 
James  M'Dermott,  and  a  small  frame  church  erected,  which  was 
dedicated  by  the  bishop,  May,  1834,  as  Christ  Church.  Norwich, 
Stonington,  Westerly,  New  London  and  Middletown,  were  next 
centres  of  Catholicity  visited  from  time  to  time.  In  1843,  Bridge- 
port had  its  church  ;  and,  in  the  adjacent  State  of  Rhode  Island, 
churches  had  arisen  at  Providence,  Pawtucket,  and  Newport. 
Convinced  that  a  bishop  residing  there  would  give  a  greater 
impulse  to  religion,  the  Holy  See  erected  the  two  States  into  a 
diocese;  and  the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore,  on  the  17th  of  March, 


Iiq^  T-HE  UNITED  STATES.  515 

1844,  witnessea  the  consecration  of  tlie  first  Bishop  of  Ilartforcl, 
Right  Rev.  William  Tyler,  a  nephew  of  the  Rev.  Virgil  Barber. 
He  was  a  convert  and  a  member  of  that  family  of  predilection 
who  were  called  from  the  shades  of  error,  and  almost  all  em- 
braced the  rehgious  state  or  entered  the  priesthood.  He  fixed 
his  residence  at  Providence  and  began  his  arduous  duties.  His 
diocese  contained  seven  priests  and  seven  churches.  Under  the 
impulse  given  by  the  bishop,  and  with  the  aid  he  procured, 
churches  were  begun  at  Woonsocket,  Middletown  and  New 
Loudon.  Bishop  Tyler  labored  zealousl\%  obtaining  aid  in 
means  and  priests  for  his  diocese,  doing  himself  the  work  of  a 
missionary,  not  only  in  Providence  but  in  his  visits  through  his 
diocese,  wherever  he  found  a  body  of  Catholics  to  whom  he  had 
no  priest  to  send.  His  health  had  never  been  strong,  and  at 
the  Provincial  Council  in  1849,  with  proof  that  he  could  not 
long  survive,  he  asked  to  resign.  The  Rev.  Bernard  O'Reilly 
was  recommended  as  a  coadjutor,  but  Bishop  Tyler  died  piously 
June  18th,  1849. 

Bishop  O'Reilly  was  consecrated  on  the  10th  of  November 
in  the  following  year,  the  diocese  having  been  governed,  during 
the  vacancy,  by  Bishop  Fitzpatrick.  Dr.  O'Reilly  was  born  in 
the  County  Longford,  Ireland,  in  1803,  and  had  been  a  zealous 
missionary  in  Western  New  York.  His  great  effort  was  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  his  clergy,  and  of  seminarians  who  would 
in  time  become  priests  for  his  people.  He  established  a  theolog- 
ical seminary,  and  introduced,  in  1851,  the  Sisters  of  Mercy, 
who  opened  an  academy,  asylum,  and  free  schools,  at  Providence, 
and  soon  after  similar  institutions  at  New  Haven,  Hartford,  and 
Newport.  When  the  Sisters  at  Providence  were  threatened  with 
mob  violence  the  bishop  himself  confronted  the  mob.  It  was  the 
period  of  the  periodical  anti-Catholic  disease,  which  rendered  all 
Catholic  progress  difficult.  At  the  commencement  of  1856  the 
priests  had  increased  to  39,  attending  37  churches  and  as  many 


516  THE  CATHOLIC  CHUKCH 

stations,  where  tliey  ministered  to  at  least  55,000  Catholics. 
Schools  had  increased,  but  the  bishop  needed  a  community  to 
take  charge  of  those  for  boys.  To  obtain  this  and  other  aid  he 
went  to  Europe,  and,  having  done  all  in  his  power,  sailed  for  his 
diocese,  January  23d,  1856,  on  the  steamer  Pacific,  which  never 
was  heard  of  more.  Under  the  administration  of  the  A^ery  Rev. 
William  O'Reilly  religion  progressed,  as  the  statistics  show. 

On  the  14th  of  March,  1858,  the  Rev.  Francis  P.  McFarland, 
long  pastor  at  Utica,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Hartford.  He 
was  a  native  of  Franklin,  Pa.,  and  had  been  on  the  mission  from 
the  year  1845,  chiefly  at  Watertown  and  Utica.  He  devoted 
himself  to  the  increase  of  the  parochial  schools,  and  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  churches,  many  poor  tempoiary  structures 
being  replaced  by  worthy  edifices.  In  1865  the  Franciscans  of 
the  reform  founded  St.  Joseph's  Convent  at  Winsted,  and  Sis- 
ters of  the  Third  Order  took  charge  of  the  parish  schools.  A 
fine  church  and  convents  in  time  grew  up  here,  a  source  of  bless- 
ing to  the  district.  In  1867  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools 
began  their  labors  at  Hartford ;  the  Sisters  of  Charity  had  al- 
ready taken  charge  of  asylums  and  schools  of  Providence,  as  the 
Sisters  of  the  Congregation  did  at  Waterbury. 

The  clergy,  filled  with  zeal,  carried  out  the  pious  wishes  of 
the  bishop,  and  gave  an  example  of  solid  progress.  In  1872 
Connecticut  had  67  churches  and  72  priests,  and  a  Catholic 
population  of  nearly  150,000,  so  that  the  Holy  See  resolved  to 
erect  a  new  see  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island  and  a  part  of  Mas- 
sachusetts being  assigned  to  it.  Bishop  McFarland  could  thus 
give  his  energy  solely  to  the  Church  in  Connecticut ;  he  took 
up  his  residence  at  Hartford,  where  the  chapel  of  St.  Joseph 
served  as  a  pro-cathedral.  He  died  on  the  12th  of  October, 
1874,  with  the  consolation  of  seeing  in  that  land  of  bitter  op- 
position Catholic  institutions  on  every  side,  and  in  places  where, 
but  a  few  years  before,  Catholics  could  scarcely  get  shelter,  the 


IK  THE  UNITED  STATES.  517 

foitliful  forming  the  majority  of  the  population.  Eighty-nine 
churches,  with  GO  cliapels  and  stations,  12  academies,  38  par- 
ochial schools  with  9,000  pupils,  three  orphan  asylums,  showed 
the  zeal  of  his  flock,  religious  societies  keeping  faith  alive. 

The  Very  Rev.  James  Hughes  became  administrator,  and  it 
was  not  till  March  19th,  1876,  that  Hartford  received  a  new 
bishop,  in  the  person  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Galberry,  of  the  Order 
of  St.  Augustine,  who  had  reluctantly  accepted  the  mitre.  He 
zealously  continued  the  work  of  his  predecessors  till  the  summer 
of  1878,  when,  feeling  the  need  of  rest,  he  set  out  for  the  convent 
of  his  order  near  Philadelphia.  He  became  so  ill  on  the  cars 
that  he  was  removed  to  a  hotel  iu  New  York,  where  he  died, 
October  10th,  1878. 

DIOCESE    OF  BURLINGTON,  1853-1878. 

Catholicity  first  reared  the  cross  within  the  limiis  of  what  is 
now  the  State  of  Vermont,  in  Fort  St.  Ann,  on  Isle  La  Motte. 
The  quarries  of  that  island  gave  the  marble  for  the  Cathedral  of 
Burlington  ;  and  mass  is  said  on  the  island  as  it  was  said  for 
the  first  time  in  July,  1666,  by  the  Sulpitian  Dollier  de  Casson. 
Fort  and  chapel  soon  crumbled  away,  and  Catholicity  had  no 
foothold,  although  lands  were  granted  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
lake  to  French  seigneurs;  and  names  were  given  which  remain. 
Fables  of  earlier  missions  have  passed  from  magazine  stories  to 
shallow  histories,  but  they  are  without  foundation. 

After  the  Revolution,  and  especially  after  the  erection  of 
the  See  of  Boston,  the  few  scattered  Catholics  in  Vermont  began 
to  receive  visits.  The  first  priest  to  reach  them  was  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Matignon,  who  visited  Burlington  in  1815;  the  Very  Rev. 
Mr.  Mignault,  of  Chambly,  followed.  Converts  began  to  enter 
the  Church;  and,  through  the  zeal  of  Messrs.  White  and 
Nichols,  the  Rev.  Paul  McQuade  was  sent  there  in  1821 ;  be- 
ginning by  saying  mass  in  the  house  of  Mr.  White  :  but,  after 


518  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

visiting  Burlington  and  other  towns,  he  returned  to  Boston, 
Tlie  Rev.  Mr.Fitton  followed.  In  1830  Bishop  Feuwick  visited 
Vermont,  and,  acting  as  missionary,  said  mass  for  the  scattered 
Catholics,  heard  confessions,  gave  instructions,  and  administered 
confirmation.  Finding  a  number  of  Catholics  at  Burlington  he 
encouraged  them  to  build  a  church.  On  his  return  he  sent 
Vermont  its  first  permanent  pastor,  in  the  person  of  the  eccentric 
but  devoted  Rev.  Jeremiah  O'Callaghan,  who  beginning  his  labors 
at  Wallingford,  fixed  his  residence  at  Burlington.  A  generous 
citizen,  Colonel  Hyde,  gave  a  building  site  on  which  the  Rev.  Mr. 
O'Callaghan  erected  a  neat  little  church,  with  a  tower  and  cross. 
It  was  blessed  by  Bishop  Fenwick,  September  9th,  1832 ;  and 
from  this  centre  the  zealous  priest  visited  the  faithful  in  all  parts 
of  the  State,  collecting  congregations  and  preparing  for  future 
churches.  In  1831  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Walsh  was  sent  to  attend 
the  southern  part  of  the  State,  succeeded  in  1837  by  the  Rev. 
John  B.  Daly.  The  church  at  Burlington  was  destroyed  by  fire 
in  1838,  in  hatred  of  the  faith,  leaving  the  thousand  Catholics 
without  a  place  to  worship  God ;  but  the  next  year  a  neat  brick 
church  was  erected  in  Middlebury,  and  in  1841  a  similar  one  in 
Burlington.  Converts  continued  to  come  into  the  Church ; 
and  the  Episcopal  Bishop  Hopkins,  while  opposing  Catholicity 
with  all  his  zeal  and  ability,  had  the  mortification  of  seeing 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Hoyte,  one  of  his  trusted  young  clergymen,  submit 
to  the  Church  of  Rome.  Among  other  remarkable  conversions 
was  that  of  Miss  Debbie,  Miss  Helen  and  Miss  Anna  Barlow. 

In  1853  the  Holy  See  made  Vermont  a  diocese,  and  appoint- 
ed the  Right  Rev.  Louis  de  Goesbriand,  Bishop  of  Burlington. 
He  vv'as  consecrated  on  the  30th  of  October  by  Mgr.  Bedini,  and 
took  possession  of  his  see  on  the  6th  of  November.  His  diocese 
had  five  priests  and  eight  churches,  including  those  at  Montpelier, 
St.  Albans,  Fairfield,  Scranton,  Highgate,  and  Castleton,  but 
no  school  or  institution  of  any  kind.     At  the  end  of  a  quarter  of 


IN  THE  UIs'ITED  STATES.  519 

a  century  the  first  bishop  is  still  in  his  see,  with  a  fine  Gothic 
cathedral,  and  sixty-three  other  churches,  besides  sixteen  stations 
regularly  attended.  There  are  three  academies  for  young  ladies 
directed  by  Sisters  of  the  Congregation,  Sisters  of  Mercy,  and 
Sisters  of  the  Iluly  Name  of  Jesus  and  Mary;  Sisters  of  Provi- 
dence direct  an  orphan  asylum  and  hospital,  and  all  these  com- 
munities, with  Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Mary,  Sisters  of  St. 
Joseph,  and  Sisters  of  Charity,  devote  themselves  to  the  all-im- 
portant parochial  schools,  of  which  there  are  fourteen  in  the 
diocese.  The  total  Catholic  population  in  1878  is  estimated  at 
3^,000. 

DIOCESE  OF  PORTLAN"D. 

As  we  have  seen,  secular  priests,  with  Jesuits  and  Capuchins, 
laid  the  foundations  of  Catholicity  in  Maine  ;  but  in  the  last  cen- 
tury the  French  were  driven  out  and  the  Indians  left  isolated, 
only  one  priest  succeeded  Father  Rale  on  the  Kennebec. 
They  kept  the  faith,  rejecting  the  Protestantism  offered  them» 
and  at  the  Revolution  their  first  request  to  the  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts  was  for  a  priest.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Cheverus, 
on  being  stationed  at  Boston,  visited  these  faithful  Catholics, 
and  all  whom  he  could  find  scattered  thiough  the  woods  of 
Maine.  There  were  a  few  Catholics  of  prominence,  like  the 
Cottrells  and  Kavanaghs,  the  rest  were  poor  and  the  feeling 
against  them  bitter.  Brother  du  Thet  and  Father  Rale  had 
shed  their  blood  for  the  faith  ;  Bishop  Cheverus  had  been  tried 
like  a  vile  criminal ;  when  Bishop  Fenwick,  in  1833,  erected  a 
monument  over  Father  Rale  it  was  thrown  down  by  violence. 

The  Penobscot  mission  was  continued  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ro- 
magne;  then  the  Rev.  Ed.  Demilier  built  a  beautiful  church 
and  residence,  and  directed  the  mission  till  his  death,  July  23d, 
1843,  instructing  his  flock,  and  printing  prayer  books  for  them 
in  their  own  language. 


520  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

The  first  chnrcli  for  English  speaking  Catholics  was  St. 
Patrick's,  at  Newcastle,  a  brick  chuich,  fifty  feet  by  twenty-five, 
blessed  by  the  Rev.  John  Cheverus,  July  17tb,  1808,  on  ground 
given  by  Messrs,  Kavanagh  and  Cottrell,  who  also  subscribed 
8500.  There  was  also  one  at  Whitefield,  which  was  replaced 
in  1838  by  a  fine  brick  structure,  eighty  feet  in  depth,  by  fifty. 
The  veteran  Dominican,  Father  Ffrench,  built  a  church  at  East- 
port,  in  1828.  Portland,  where  Bishop  Fenwick  had  to  say 
mass  in  a  private  house,  in  1827,  had  its  stone  church,  erected 
by  Father  Ffrench,  dedicated  in  1833.  Bcnedicta,  a  Catholic 
settlement,  begun  by  the  bishop  and  Houlton,  had  churches  in 
1835 ;  and  two  years  after  the  Catholics  of  Bangor  began  to 
erect  an  edifice  for  worship.  The  next  year  a  church  was  dedi- 
cated at  Gardiner,  followed  in  a  few  years  by  churches  at 
Machias,  Belfast,  and  Calais. 

The  pioneer  priests  of  Maine  were  the  zealous  Dominican, 
Father  Charles  Ffrench,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Demilier,  Rev.  Patrick 
Flood,  Rev.  Mr.  O'Sullivan,  and  the  Rev.  William  Tyler.  About 
1846,  the  bishop  confided  the  Indian  mission  to  the  Jesuits,  and 
Fathers  Moore  and  Bapst  assumed  charge  of  that  interesting 
church. 

On  the  8th  of  Jidy,  1854,  Ellsworth  was  the  scene  of  a 
fearful  outrage,  performed  coolly  and  malignantly.  The  rights  of 
the  Catholic  children  were  here  as  elsewhere  trampled  under ;  and 
Father  Bapst,  who  attended  the  mission,  advised  them  to  seek 
legal  redress.  At  a  town  meeting  it  was  resolved  that  if  he  re- 
turned to  Ellsworth  he  should  be  tarred  and  feathered.  The 
courageous  priest  was  not  intimidated,  but  they  carried  out  the 
threat.  Father  Bapst  was  stripped,  robbed,  covered  with  tar  and 
feathers,  and  brutally  injured,  so  that  he  never  fully  recovered 
from  the  effects.  As  usual  a  farce  of  a  trial  followed:  but 
history  fails  to  record  any  punishment  of  those  guilty  of  outrages 
on  Catholic  clergy  or  institutions. 


11^  THE  Ul^ITED  STATES.  521 

By  the  year  1855,  there  were  also  churches  at  Ellsworth, 
Waterville,  Calais,  Trcscott,  aud  Pembroke. 

New  Hampshiie  had  no  early  Catholic  reminiscences.  An 
Italian  %uies  in  the  early  accounts  of  ihe  "  Stone-throwing 
Devil  ;"  and  a  French  Catholic,  driven  out  of  the  settlement, 
gave  his  name  to  Lamprae  river.  The  whole  State  was,  during 
the  colonial  days,  and  after  the  Revolution,  as  far  removed  from 
the  kingdom  of  God  as  can  well  be  conceived ;  slaves  to  the 
priestcraft  of  their  ministers,  and  sunk  in  all  the  superstitions  of 
heresy.  Yet,  from  amid  this  darkness,  God  called  to  the  light 
the  Rev.  Virgil  H.  Barber,  son  of  an  old  revolutionary  sol- 
dier, who  renounced  Episcopalianism  to  enter  the  Church,  in 
1816,  with  his  family.  He  prepared,  by  study,  to  receive  holy 
orders,  his  wife  and  daughters  becoming  nuns;  then  his  parents, 
sister  and  brother  entered  the  Church,  as  did  his  aunt,  Mrs. 
Tyler,  mother  of  the  future  bishop  of  Hartford,  and  her  family. 
Others  began  to  inquire,  and,  like  Captain  Bela  Chase,  became 
Catholics,  in  a  State  where  no  Catholic  could  be  even  a  pound- 
keeper.  The  church  at  Claremont  was  erected  in  1823,  by  the 
Rev.  Virgil  H.  Barber,  who  had  been  ordained  the  previous 
year;  and,  in  1826,  Bishop  Fenwick  conferred  confirmation  on 
twenty-one,  nearly  all  converts. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Mahony  and  Father  Ffrench,  in  the  following- 
year,  began  the  mission  at  Dover;  and  the  bishop  encouraging 
tlie  people,  they  bought  a  lot  and  erected  a  neat  little  church, 
fifty  feet  by  thirty,  which  was  dedicated  to  St.  Aloysius  in  1830. 

For  many  years  these  two  churches,  under  the  care  of  the 
Franciscan,  Rev.  J.  B.  Daly,  and  Rev.  Patrick  Oanavan,  were 
the  only  lighthouses  of  the  faith  in  (he  State.  By  1855,  Man- 
chester could  also  boast  of  a  chapel  of  St.  Anne. 

Such  wns  the  condition  of  Catholicity  in  these  two  States 
when  the  Holy  See  resolved  to  erect  them  into  a  diocese,  and 
fix  the  bishop's  see  at  Portland,     There  were  simply  twenty- 


522  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

four  churches  and  ten  priests  for  some  30,000  Catholics,  not  a 
school,  asylum,  or  institution  of  any  kind.  The  population  gen- 
erally were  of  the  most  ignorantly  prejudiced  character.  For  a 
time  the  Bishop  of  Boston  administered  the  new  diocese. 

The  Right  Rev.  David  W.  Bacon,  a  native  of  New  York,  and 
for  mauy  years  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Assumption,  Brook- 
lyn, was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Portland,  April  22d,  1855.  His 
first  care,  after  visiting  his  diocese,  was  to  stimulate  the  erection 
of  new  churches  in  spots  where  they  were  sadly  needed.  Then, 
turning  his  attention  to  the  schools,  he,  in  1857,  invited  the 
Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  to  found  an  institution  at  Manchester,  but 
failing  to  obtain  them,  solicited  the  aid  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy, 
who  opened  an  academy  for  young  ladies,  and  organized  paro- 
chial schools.  His  zealous  efforts  were  most  successful.  When 
he  died,  November  5th,  1874:,  he  beheld  around  him  in  his  dio- 
cese, a  fine  cathedral,  sixty-three  churches,  fifty-two  priests,  two 
asylums  for  orphans,  and  no  fewer  than  twenty-three  parochial 
schools,  his  flock  having  increased  to  80,000  souls.  His  health 
had  failed  so  completely  that  he  went  to  Europe  with  Arch- 
bishop McCloskey,  hoping  to  profit  by  the  change  of  air,  but  on 
reaching  Brest  could  barely  be  conveyed  to  an  hospital.  When 
the  Archbishop  returned  he  crossed  the  ocean  again,  and  died 
at  St.  Vincent's  Hospital,  New  York. 

The  diocese  of  Portland  was  administered,  during  the  vacancy 
of  the  see,  by  the  Very  Rev.  John  O'Donnell.  The  Rev.  James 
Augustine  Healy,  a  priest  long  known  in  Boston,  w^as  conse- 
crated, June  2d,  1875,  and  has  since  been  Bishop  of  Portland, 
zealously  increasing  the  strength  of  the  Church. 

DIOCESE  OF  SPRINGFIELD,   1872. 

This  diocese,  established  in  June,  1870,  embraces  the  western 
part  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts — Berkshire,  Franklin,  Hamp- 
shire, Hampden,  and  Worcester  counties.      The  Right  Rev. 


Iiq-  THE   UNITED   STATES.  523 

Patrick  Thomas  O'Reilly,  D.D.,  the  first  bishop,  was  consecrated 
September  25th,  1870.  Religion  had  not  progressed  so  rapidly 
ill  Western  Massachusetts  as  it  did  on  the  coast.  Gradually, 
however,  Catholics  began  to  penetrate  to  that  part,  and  missior.- 
aries  followed.  It  was  not  till  1837  that  Worcester  received  a 
pastor,  in  the  person  of  the  Rev.  J.  Fitton.  He  found  a  flock  of 
four  families  and  nineteen  unmarried  persons.  A  church  in 
Temple  street,  begun  in  1834,  was  dedicated  in  1841.  This 
zealous  priest,  who  was  sensible  of  the  great  wants  of  education, 
began  here  St.  James's  Seminary  for  Boys,  which  prospered  so 
that  he  conveyed  the  property  to  the  bishop,  to  become  the  now 
prosperous  and  distinguished  College  of  the  Holy  Cross. 

Springfield,  Cliicopee,  Northampton,  and  Saxonville  were  the 
next  important  points.  In  1846,  a  Baptist  church  at  Springfield 
was  purchased.  Lieut.  Scammon,  U.  S.  A.,  designed  an  altar 
and  tabernacle,  and  the  church  was  dedicated  by  Bishop  Fen- 
wick  in  honor  of  St.  Benedict.  Northampton,  where  Catholics 
had  been  unjustly  condemned  to  death,  had  a  church  in  1844 ; 
Chicopee,  in  1843;  Westfield,  in  1854;  Pittsfield,  in  1853; 
Great  Barrington,  in  1855. 

The  appointment  of  a  bishop  gave  strength  and  energy  to 
Catholicity  in  Western  Massachusetts. 

"Within  the  limits  of  the  diocese  are  the  College  of  the  Holy 
Cross  at  Worcester,  and  a  convent  of  Sisters  of  Mercy  in  the 
same  place,  who  direct  a  select  school  and  night  school,  as  well 
as  the  orphan  asylum  ;  while  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  of  the  Bel- 
gian Congregation  at  Namur  direct  several  parochial  schools; 
and  the  Sisters  of  Charity  have  an  orphan  asylum  at  Holyoke. 
The  Church  has  thriven.  The  Catholic  population  is  estimated 
at  150,000,  with  92  priests,  five  convents,  and  two  asylums. 

DIOCESE   OF   PROVIDEiTCE,    1872. 

To  the  diocese  of  Providence  were  assigned  not  only  Rhode 


524  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

Island,  but  also  several  counties  in  Massachusetts.  Rhode 
Island  boasts  of  having  established  religious  toleration,  but  her 
founder  was  an  anti-Catholic  fanatic,  and  one  of  the  earhest  laws 
pointedly  excluded  Catholics  from  civil  rights.  When  the  French 
fleet  arrived  at  Newport  during  the  Revolution  this  obnoxious 
clause  was  repealed.  The  Catholic  services  were  then  performed 
freely  on  Rhode  Island  soil  by  the  chaplains  of  the  French 
forces. 

The  Rev.  John  Thayer  visited  Newport  in  1791  and  1798, 
and  the  venerable  Bishop  Carroll  in  1803.  Bristol  was  visited 
by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Matignon  and  Cheverus  some  years  later. 
In  1827,  the  Rev.  Patrick  Byrne  having,  on  a  flying  visit,  found 
a  hundred  and  fifty  Catholics  who  approached  holy  communion 
gratefully,  Bishop  Fenwick  sent  the  Rev.  Robert  D.  Woodley 
to  visit  this  flock.  In  April,  1828,  this  priest  purchased  an  old 
school-house  at  Barney  street,  Newport,  which  became  the  first 
Catholic  chvirch  on  Rhode  Island  ;  and  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop, 
in  the  fall  of  that  year,  conferred  the  sacrament  of  confirmation 
in  the  modest  chapel. 

In  1830,  the  Rev.  John  Corry,  who  visited  Newport  regularly, 
erected  a  better  church  on  Mount  Vernon  street,  but  it  was  far 
from  being  a  substantial  edifice.  Yet  the  flock  did  not  for  years 
increase,  and  it  was  not  till  1849  that  a  fine  Gothic  church,  "  Our 
Lady  of  the  Isle,"  attested  the  faith  and  numbers  of  the  Catholic 
body. 

Providence  was  visited  and  mass  said  from  time  to  time  in  a 
house  on  Sheldon  street,  as  early  as  1813.  After  a  visit  from 
Bishop  Fenwick,  in  1828,  a  lot  was  given  by  a  generous  Pro- 
testant, and  the  church  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  erected,  and 
in  1832  a  second  church  was  begun.  From  this  point  Rev.  Mr. 
Corry,  Rev.  James  Fitton,  and  others  attended  Pawtucket  and 
Crompton,  where  churches  soon  rose. 

The  first  bishop  appointed  to  the  see  of  Hartford,  the  Right 


IN  THE   UKITED   STATES.  525 

Rev.  Dr.  Tyler,  made  Providence  his  residence,  and  this  plan 
was  followed  by  his  successors,  till  Providence  was  erected  into 
a  distinct  see,  in  1872. 

The  first  Bishop  of  Providence,  the  Right  Rev.  Thomas  F. 
Hendricken,  D.D  ,  was  consecrated  Apiil  28th,  1872.  His  dio- 
cese embraces  not  only  Rhode  Island,  but  Bristol,  Barnstable,  and 
part  of  Plymouth  counties,  with  the  islands.  He  gave  a  new 
impulse  to  religion. 

The  ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  in  1872,  began  one  of  their 
excellent  seminaries ;  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  direct  several  acade- 
mies and  select  schools;  the  Ursuline  Nuns  have  a  convent 
academy  at  Newport ;  the  Sisters  of  Jesus  and  Mary  have  a 
convent  school  at  Fall  River;  and  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian 
Schools  have  also  one  of  their  excellent  academies.  There  are  in 
all  twelve  parochial  schools,  with  an  aggregate  of  7,500  pupils. 
The  diocese  numbers  74  churches  and  chapels,  80  priests,  10 
male  and  female  academies^  an  asylum  and  an  hospital. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

THE  CHUKCH  IN  THE   SOUTHERN  STATES. 

Diocese  of  Charleston.— Early  Spanish  ground— Erection  of  See— Eight  Rev.  John 
England,  D.D.— Sisters  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy— Ursulines— Bishop  Clancy  Coad- 
jutor—Right Rev.  Ignatius  Reynolds,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  P.  N.  Lynch— The  Civil 
War— Destruction  of  Catholic  property. 

Diocese  op  Savaxnah.— Early  History  of  the  Church  in  Georgia— Erection  of  the 
See-Right  Rev.  F.  X.  Gartland,  D.D.-Rlght  Rev.  John  Barry,  D.D.-Right  Rev.  • 
Augustine  Verot,  D.D.-Right  Rev.  Ignatius  Perslco,  D.D.-Right  Rev.  W.  H.  Gross,  ; 
D.D.— Pio  Nono  College— Vicarate  Apostolic  of  North  Carolina— Right  Rev.  James  / 
Gibbons,  V.A.— Progress  of  the  Faith. 

Long  before  England's  merry  monarch  granted  a  charter  for 
Carolina,  the  Spaniards,  after  settling  Florida,  planted  a  settle- 
ment at  St.  Helena,  on  Port  Royal,  where  Ribaut's  colony  had 


526  THE  CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

been.  In  tliis  place  a  chapel  existed  from  the  erection  of  Fort 
St.  Philip,  in  the  spring  of  1566,  and  was,  doubtless,  dedicated 
to  the  hol}'^  apostle  of  that  name.  The  church  existed  for  several 
years,  and  there  are  notices  of  priests  exercising  the  ministry 
there.  The  Jesuit  Father  E-ogel,  with  three  companions,  began 
an  Indian  mission  near  it  in  1569 ;  and  we  find  notice  of  mis- 
sionary visits  at  a  later  date.  But  the  Spaniards  gradually  with- 
drew as  English  colonization  advanced  southward.  Catholics  had 
no  part  in  the  settlement  of  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  were  ex- 
pressly excluded  by  the  charter  of  the  latter  colony.  For  this 
reason  the  Acadian  Catholics,  when  sent  there  in  1755,  were 
sent  back  in  the  following  spring,  and  Carolina  gave  her  exiled 
guests  every  facility  for  departing. 

In  1775,  two  men,  discovered  to  be  Irishmen  and  Catholics, 
were  tarred  and  feathered,  and  then  banished  ;  but  the  Revolu- 
tion, though  anti-Catholic  in  its  origin,  opened  the  South  to 
Catholicity.  As  the  war  went  on  some  Catholics  came  in, 
among  others  the  learned  ^danus  Burke. 

In  1786,  a  priest  arrived  in  Charleston,  in  a  vessel  bound  to 
South  America,  and,  during  the  stay  of  the  vessel  in  the  port, 
ministered  to  the  Catholics,  saying  mass  for  them.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Ryan  was  sent  there  by  Bishop  Carroll,  in  1788,  and  re- 
mained for  two  years,  till  his  health  compelled  him  to  retire, 
early  in  1700.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Keating,  sent  by  Bishop  Carroll, 
organized  the  little  flock ;  a  piece  of  ground  on  Hafel  street, 
near  the  city,  with  a  ruinous  Methodist  church  on  it,  was  pur- 
chased, and  fitted  up  for  worship  as  St.  Mary's  Church,  appa- 
rently aided  by  the  generosity  of  the  King  of  Spain. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  Charleston  was  incorporated 
in  1791  by  the  Legislature,  which  had  the  year  previous  removed 
all  disability  from  the  faithful. 

From  1793,  for  several  years,  the  Rev.  S.  F.  O'Gallagher,  a 
priest  of  great  learning  and  eloquence,  ministered  to  the  flock, 


IN"  THE   UNITED   STATES.  527 

supporting  himself  by  acting  as  Professor  in  Charleston  College. 
When  the  French  Revolution  and  the  troubles  in  St.  Domingo 
sent  many  Catholics  to  Charleston,  a  new  brick  church,  fiixty 
feet  by  forty,  was  erected  in  place  of  the  old  tottering  structure. 
The  progress  of  the  Church  was  checked  by  dissensions  and 
troubles,  which  gave  great  uneasiness  to  Archbishop  Carroll. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Le  Mercier,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  de  Cloriviere  were 
here  for  some  years  ;  and,  in  1817,  the  Rev.  B.  J.  Fenwick  was 
sent  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wallace. 

The  Catholics  in  the  Southern  States  solicited  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  bishop,  and  the  Holy  See,  on  the  11th  of  Jul}^  1820, 
erected  the  see  of  Charleston,  and  appointed  as  its  first  bishop 
the  Rev.  John  England,  of  Bandon,  Ireland,  who  was  conse- 
crated at  St  Finnbar's  Cathedral,  Cork,  on  the  21st  of  Septem- 
ber, and  soon  after  sailed  for  his  diocese.  This  included  the 
States  of  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia.  In  all 
this  territory  he  found  but  two  priests  doing  duty  ;  he  brought 
one,  and  another  ordained  by  him  in  Ireland  was  to  follow  ;  but 
everything  was  to  be  created.  Bishop  England  at  once  showed 
his  fitness  for  the  great  work ;  and,  from  the  outset,  ranked  as 
one  of  the  ablest  of  the  American  bishops  :  he  has  been  styled 
"  the  light  of  the  American  hierarchy  ;"  and,  in  learning,  elo- 
quence, vigor  of  mind,  and  administrative  ability,  has  rarely 
been  equaled. 

He  secured  a  site  for  a  cathedral,  began  to  gather  priests, 
and,  adapting  himself  to  the  ideas  of  the  country,  endeavored  to 
organize  a  kind  of  convention  of  the  clergy  and  laity  for  the 
management  of  affairs. 

To  secure  Catholic  instruction  for  the  young  he  established,  in 
1829,  the  congregation  of  Sisters  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy.  The 
foundresses  were  Miss  Mary  and  Miss  Honora  O'Gorman,  and 
their  niece,  Miss  Teresa  Barry,  natives  of  Cork,  who,  in  their 
zeal  to  labor  for  the  cause  of  religion,  came  to  America  to  found 


528  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

a  community  under  the  rule  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  The  ob- 
ject of  this  institute  was  to  educate  young  ladies,  conduct  free 
schools,  give  religious  instructions  to  slave  girls,  and  visit  the 
This  institute  subsists  to  this  dav,  and  has  under  its  care 


sicJ 


three  academies  and  two  asylums  in  the  State,  as  well  as  some 
iu  the  Diocese  of  Savannah.  Their  services  in  the  visitations 
of  cholera  and  yellow  fever,  from  the  year  1832,  have  endeared 
them  to  all  classes. 

Bishop  England,  in  December,  1834,  also  introduced  the 
Ursuline  Nuns,  who  began  a  convent  and  academy  near  the 
cathedral.  This  house  is  now  at  Valle  Crucis,  near  Columbia. 
The  mission  in  that  city,  the  capital  of  South  Carolina,  was 
founded  by  the  great  bishop.  He  placed  there  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Corkery,  who  had  accompanied  him  from  Ireland.  A  fine  brick 
church  was  soon  erected  here,  paid  for,  in  part,  by  a  lottery,  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  time,  and  plainer  frame  structures 
were  erected — St.  Andrew's,  at  Barnewell,  and  St.  James,  be- 
tween Charleston  and  Augusta. 

Bishop  England  was  ever  ready  to  meet  charges  against  the 
Church  ;  and  established  the  United  States  Catholic  Miscellany, 
to  refute  error,  disseminate  truth,  and  give  the  faithful  a  knowl- 
edge of  Catholic  affairs.  It  is  really  the  first  of  our  exclusively 
Catholic  papers,  and  rendered  signal  service ;  his  own  articles, 
of  great  power  and  sterling  value,  giving  its  columns  the  greatest 
value.  By  it  his  influence  was  felt  both  by  Catholic  and  Pro- 
testant in  all  parts  of  the  country.  He  also  founded  societies  for 
diffusing  Catholic  knowledge. 

In  his  own  diocese  his  labor  was  incessant ;  he  spared  no  ef- 
fort to  give  priests,  churches  and  needed  institutions  to  his  in- 
creased flock.  He  himself  performed  all.  the  laborious  duties 
of  a  parish  priest,  amid  the  severities  of  the  climate,  in  the 
seasons  of  deadly  pestilence,  when  at  Charleston,  or  when  visit- 
ing his  extended  diocese.     To  it  he  was  deeply  attached,  making 


mmf 


RIGHT  REV.  JOnX  ENGLAND,  D.D., 

Fint  JJi.hop  of  Charkstoii,  S.  C. 


IIT  THE    UNITED   STATES.  529 

repeated  visits  to  Europe  in  its  behalf,  and  earnestly  laboring  to 
establish  provincial  councils  in  the  United  States,  that  each 
bishop  might  gain  strength. 

The  modest  Cathedral  of  St.  Finnbnr  was  soon  raised.  Hav- 
ing obtained  a  coadjutor  in  the  person  of  the  Right  Rev.  William 
Clancy,  who  was  consecrated  in  Ireland,  February  1st,  1835, 
Bishop  England  established  a  seminary,  with  an  academy,  and  a 
French  community,  Dames  de  la  Retraite,  but  these  did  not  re- 
main; and,  in  1837,  his  coadjutor  was  transferred  to  Guiana. 

A  conflagration  visited  Charleston,  April  28th,  1838,  in  which 
the  Cathedral  of  St.  Finnbar  perished,  and  the  congregation 
were  compelled  to  use  the  hall  of  the  Medical  College  as  a  cha- 
pel. A  church  at  Sumter  was  then  established;  another  begun 
at  Camden,  and  the  Cathedral  rebuilt. 

When  the  great  Bishop  of  Charleston  sunk  at  last  under 
labors  which  had  undermined  his  constitution,  his  heart  clung  to 
his  diocese,  and  his  latest  thoughts  were  for  its  welfere.  He  had 
found  but  two  churches  in  his  diocese,  only  one  in  South  Caro- 
lina. He  left  a  fine  body  of  20  zealous  priests,  who  attended 
17  churches  and  44  stations,  2  convents  with  academies,  an  hos- 
pital, an  orphan  asylum,  2  free  schools,  and  active  societies  for 
his  Catholic  population  of  about  10,000.  As  nearly  all  Catholic 
emigration  turned  away  from  the  slave  states,  the  body  of  the 
faithful  had  increased  but  slowly. 

On  the  death  of  the  illustrious  Dr.  England,  the  Very  Rev. 
Richard  S.  Baker  became  administrator,  till  March  19th,  1844, 
when  the  Right  Rev.  Ignatius  Aloysius  Reynolds,  D.D.,  was 
consecrated.  He  found  his  large  diocese,  with  its  scattered 
flock,  burthened  with  debt,  which  he  set  to  work  to  meet,  and 
eventually  discharged  almost  entirely.  The  cathedral,  seminary, 
and  bishop's  house  were  in  a  ruinous  condition.  After  satisfying 
himself  of  the  wants  of  his  flock,  he  went  to  Europe  to  obtain 
aid,  and  on  his  return  made  a  thorough  visitation  of  his  diocese, 


530  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

held  a  synod,  and  promulgated  the  decrees  of  the  Baltimore 
Councils.  Convinced  that  religion  would  gain  by  a  division  of 
the  diocese,  he  solicited  the  erection  of  a  see  at  Savannah;  and, 
in  1850,  Georgia,  with  East  Florida,  was  formed  into  a  separate 
diocese.  This  left  to  Charleston  the  two  Carolinas,  wiih  only 
about  5,000  Catholics,  attended  by  16  piiests.  The  Ursuliue 
community  had  meanwhile  removed  to  Ohio. 

He  proceeded  to  collect  means  for  the  erection  of  a  cathe- 
dral, and  in  May,  1850,  began  that  edifice,  and  had  the  conso- 
lation of  seeing  it  consecrated,  April  6th,  1854.  It  was  a  Gothic 
cathedral  of  brownstone,  150  feet  in  length,  with  a  spire  200 
feet  high.  Another  great  work  was  the  foundation  of  St.  Mary's 
College,  at  Columbia.  Bishop  Reynolds  was  eloquent,  learned, 
charitable,  and  zealous.  He  gave  himself  entirely  to  his  duties, 
laboring  for  the  good  of  his  people.  To  his  predecessor  he 
erected  a  lasting  monument  by  collecting  and  publishing  his 
works  in  five  laige  volumes. 

After  a  long  illness,  he  died  on  the  9th  of  March,  1855,  and 
the  Very  Rev.  P.  N.  Lynch,  D.D.,  became  administrator ;  and, 
having  been  appointed  bishop,  was  consecrated  March  14th, 
1858.     He  presided  over  the  see  for  more  than  twenty  years. 

The  Church  gained  slowly:  the  Ursulines  restored  their  con- 
vent near  Columbia,  and  the  Catholics  of  South  Carolina  had 
eleven  churches  in  various  parts  of  the  State  when  the  sound  of 
cannon  on  Charleston  harbor  proclaimed  the  opening  of  the 
great  civil  war.  To  the  diocese  of  Charleston  it  was  especially 
disastrous.  During  the  bombardment  of  the  city  the  cathe- 
dral and  the  convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  were  laid  in  ashes. 
The  church  at  Sumter  and  Beaufort  were  ruined  ;  at  Colum- 
bia, church,  convent,  and  college  disappeared.  With  the  State 
in  the  hands  of  the  negroes  and  unprincipled  whites,  nothing 
could  be  done  to  repair  these  disasters.  Oppressive  taxes  and 
imposts  made  it  almost  impossible  to  retrieve  the  losses,  or  save 


IK  THE  UNITED  STATES.  531 

what  was  left,  and  the  Catholic  flock  was  scattered  to  the  winds. 
In  time,  however,  improvement  came  ;  a  new  emigration  began 
to  enter  the  State;  tlie  Church  was  free  to  offer  the  negro  the 
blessings  of  Christianity  ;  St.  PauPs  Church,  for  the  Germans,  at 
Charleston,  and  St.  Peter's,  for  colored  Catholics,  mark  the  new 
era.  Tiie  cathedral  chapel  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  replaces  St. 
Finnbar's  ;  and,  besides  these,  the  State  has  ordy  nine  other 
churches.  The  Ursulines  are  still  at  Columbia;  the  Sisters  of 
Our  Lady  of  Mercy  at  Charleston  and  Columbia. 

DIOCESE  OF   SAVANNAH,    1850. 

As  we  have  seen,  Catholicity  was  excluded  by  law  from  the 
soil  of  Georgia.  The  people. of  the  colony  made  this  very  enact- 
ment of  bigotry  a  pretext  for  not  sharing  in  the  cruelty  to  the 
Acadian  Catholics,  whom  they  treated  with  kindness.  When  the 
Revolution  had  opened  the  State,  some  Catholics,  about  1793, 
removing  from  Maryland  to  Georgia,  began  a  settlement  near 
Augusta,  called  after  their  old  State.  Bishop  Carroll  was  un- 
able to  give  them  then  a  pastor,  but  in  a  few  years  a  French 
priest,  the  Abbe  Le  Moine  was  sent,  and  a  church  was  soon 
built.  This  clergyman,  visiting  Savannah  and  Augusta,  minis- 
tered to  the  little  congregations  of  Irish  Catholics  there.  The 
City  of  Savannah  gave  the  Catholics  a  lot,  on  which  they 
erected  the  neat  little  church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  The 
Abbe  Le  Moine  died  in  179G,  just  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Le  Mercier.  The  people  of  Savannah  regarded  him 
with  the  greatest  respect  and  consideration,  and  his  funeral  was 
attended  by  the  officers  and  crews  of  a  French  and  of  a  Span- 
ish privateer  then  in  the  harbor. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Mercier  arrived  soon  after,  and  was  distin- 
guished for  his  zeal  and  his  charity  for  the  poor.  He  died  at 
sea,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Anthony  Carles,  who  ar- 
rived from  St.  Dominao  in  1803. 


532  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

The  Rev.  Robert  Brown,  O.S.A.,  become  pastor  of  Augusta 
about  1810,  and  erected  the  brick  church  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 
He  remained  there  till  the  close  of  1824.  The  log  church  of 
the  Purification,  at  Locust  Grove,  soon  followed  the  church  at 
Augusta. 

After  the  establishment  of  the  see  of  Charleston,  Bishop  Eng- 
land gave  new  life  to  the  Catholic  body  in  Georgia,  where  he  found 
but  one  priest,  the  convert,  Rev.  S.  S.  Cooper,  at  Augusta. 
The  church  of  St.  Philip  and  St.  James  was  erected  at  Columbus, 
and  that  of  St.  Mary  near  Savannah.  By  the  visitations  of  the 
bishop  and  the  efforts  of  the  clergymen  stationed  by  him,  many 
were  recalled  to  their  duties  who  had  almost  lost  the  faith. 
The  growth  was  slow,  however.  In  1832,  Bishop  England 
estimated  the  Catholic  congregation  of  Savannah  at  only  five 
hundred.  That  at  Locust  Grove,  swelled  by  L-ish  settlers,  had 
replaced  the  log  chapel  by  a  neat  wooden  church.  Nearly  twenty 
years  later,  in  1850,  St.  Patrick's  Church  at  Washington,  the 
Church  of  the  Assumption  at  Macon,  and  that  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception,  served  from  it,  were  the  only  marks  of  increase; 
but  Savannah  had  its  convent  of  Sisters  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy, 
and  the  zealous  Rev.  John  Barry  had  an  orphan  asylum  and  a 
day  school  at  Augusta. 

Such  was  Catholicity  in  Georgia  when  Savannah  was  made  a 
see,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Francis  X.  Gartland  consecrated  bishop, 
September  10th,  1850.  In  his  diocese,  which  embraced  also 
East  Florida,  there  were,  he  estimated,  about  five  thousand  five 
hundred  Catholics.  He  visited  Europe  to  solicit  aid,  and  on 
his  return  enlarged  the  cathedral,  established  an  orphan  asylum 
at  Savannah,  a  Convent  of  Mercy  at  Augusta,  and  free  schools 
In  various  places.  All  these  were  required  to  meet  the  steady 
increase  of  the  faithful. 

In  1854  the  yellow  fever  visited  Savannah.  Bishop  Gartland 
labored  incessantly,  visiting  the  sick,  aided  by  the  Right  Rev. 


IIsT  THE  UNITED  STATES.  533 

D.  Barron,  who  had  been  a  missionary  bishop  in  Africa.  Both 
Were  stricken  down,  and,  as  tbey  lay  hovering  between  life  and 
death,  a  tornado  struck  the  house,  and  injured  it  so  that  they 
had  to  be  removed  to  die — Bishop  Barron,  September  15th,  and 
Bishop  Gartlaiid,  September  20th  ;  two  heroic  Sisters  of  Mercy 
also  laid  down  their  lives  as  martyrs  of  charity. 

The  Very  Rev.  John  Barry,  of  Augusta,  who  had  long  been 
identified  with  the  progress  of  Catholicity  in  Georgia,  and  who 
had  gone  through  all  the  perils  of  the  cholera  and  yellow  fever, 
became  administrator,  and  on  the  2d  of  August,  1857,  was  con- 
secrated bishop.  Florida  was  at  this  time  made  a  vicariate,  and 
the  diocese  of  Savannah  embraced  only  Georgia.  He  labored  as 
earnestly  and  zealously  in  his  capacity  of  bishop  as  he  had  in  that 
of  priest,  but  his  health  was  broken.  Going  to  Europe  to  recruit 
it,  he  was  prostrated  at  Paris,  and  died  there,  November  19th, 
1859,  aged  fifty. 

The  Right  Rev.  Augustine  Yerot,  D.D.,  a  French  priest  of 
known  learning  and  zeal,  was  made  Bishop  of  Savannah,  July 
14th,  1861,  having  been  for  three  years  Vicar  Apostolic  of 
Florida.  The  civil  war  had  aheady  begun,  and  Catholicity  in 
Georgia  suff"ered  in  the  general  desolation  of  the  South.  The 
new  church  at  Augusta  was  completed  amid  all  the  din  of  war, 
and  dedicated  April  12th,  1863  ;  but  the  church  at  Atlanta  was 
saved  with  great  diflSculty ;  St.  Mary's  in  Camden  County  was 
destroyed  ;  the  elegant  church  at  Dalton  perished. 

When  the  war  ended  the  bishop  went  zealously  to  work  to 
meet  the  new  condition  of  aflfairs :  churches  were  restored  and 
a  new  one  erected  at  Albany :  new  schools  were  established,  and 
an  impulse  given  by  the  devoted  religious,  by  the  Ursulines  at 
Macon,  and  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  of  the  Irish  Rule,  who,  during 
the  war,  began  their  holy  work  at  Columbus.  The  Sisters  of 
St.  Joseph  also  began  their  labors  among  the  negro  population. 

The  Rev.  Ignatius  Persico,  who  had  been  a  missionary  bishop 


534  THE  CATHOLIC  CHUECH 

in  India,  zealously  performed  the  duties  of  a  missionary  in  this 
diocese,  and  when,  in  1870,  St.  Augustine  was  made  a  bishop's 
see,  Dr.  Verot  returned  to  Florida,  and  Dr.  Persico  was  ihade 
Bishop  of  Savannah  on  the  11th  of  March,  1870.  Bishop  Per- 
sico's  health  did  not  permit  him  long  to  give  his  energies  to  the 
vast  woi'k  of  building  up  the  Church  in  Georgia.      He  resigned  in 

1872,  and  the  Right  Ilev.  William  H.  Gross,  of  the  Congregation 
of  the  Most  Holy  Redeemer,  was  consecrated  bishop,  April  27th, 

1873.  His  diocese  containing  20,000  Catholics  had  but  twelve 
priests.  He  undertook  with  energy  to  meet  the  great  wants  of 
his  flock.  At  his  invitation  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
began  a  house  of  their  order  at  Augusta,  where  they  established 
the  Church  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  opened  a  school  for  boys 
under  Brothers  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  a  school  for  girls.  The 
Fathers  of  the  ancient  order  of  St.  Benedict  began  at  Savannah 
a  mission  to  the  colored  people,  which  was  subsequently  removed 
to  the  Isle  of  Hope,  and  continued  till  the  zealous  Dom  Gabriel 
Bergier  died  of  yellow  fever,  November  4th,  1875.  It  seemed 
for  a  time  to  be  abandoned,  but  Father  Oswald  Moosmuller  re- 
vived it,  established  a  monastery,  and  labored  earnestly  to  make 
it  a  centre  of  religion  to  the  colored  race. 

The  bishop  also  founded  Pic  Nono  College  at  Macon,  in  1874, 
■which  was  soon  in  a  thriving  condition,  as  was  Mount  de  Sales 
academy  for  young  ladies.  An  academy  was  founded  also  at 
Washington ;  and,  in  1878,  the  bishop  had  doubled  the  number 
of  his  priests,  and  had  twenty-five  churches,  and  thirty -five  sta- 
tions, with  the  number  of  Catholics  steadily  increasing. 

VICARIATE   APOSTOLIC   OF   NORTH    CAROLINA. 

An  early  work  of  little  repute  alleges  that  there  was  a  Catho- 
lic settlement  in  North  Carolina  in  colonial  times  with  a  church. 
The  best  historical  scholars  regard  it  as  fabulous.  If  a  few 
Catholics  mingled  in  the  tide  of  emigrants  they  were  soon  lost. 


iiq-  THP]  u:n:ited  states.  535 

Down  to  the  Revolution  there  was  no  priest  and  no  altar.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Cleary,  canon  of  the  church  of  Funchal,  was  the  first 
to  ofiiciate  in  the  State,  lie  came  over  in  1784:  to  settle  the 
estate  of  a  relative  at  New  Berne,  and  minisicred  to  the  Cath- 
olics there  till  his  death.  He  said  mass  in  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Gaston.  In  1812,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Clorivicre,  on  his  way  to  Ciiarles- 
ton,  said  mass  for  about  twenty  Catholics  at  Fayetteville.  T!ie 
Rev.  Mr.  Kearney,  of  Norfolk,  visited  New  Berue  in  1819. 
The  Laity's  Directory  for  1822  said  :  "  In  North  Carolina  there 
is  no  Catholic  church  ;"  but  when  Dr.  England  visited  North 
Carolina  he  found  many  descendants  of  Irish  Catholics  utteily 
lost  to  the  faith  ;  many  ready  lo  join  the  Church  if  they  had  a 
church  and  a  priest.  The  neat  church  of  St.  John  the  Ev.in- 
gelist,  at  Washington,  in  Beaufort  County,  was  soon  built ;  a 
church  and  ground  were  given  in  Fayetteville,  but  St.  Patrick's 
was  destroyed  in  a  general  coiiflagration.  Steps  were  taken  to 
rebuild  it,  and  to  erect  a  church  on  a  fine  site  at  New  Berne,  but 
this  took  many  years,  and  only  in  1840  did  St.  Paul's  begin  to 
arise.  Small  as  the  Catholic  body  in  the  State  was  it  numbered 
among  its  members  the  famous  lawyer  and  judge,  William  H. 
Gaston. 

In  1839,  Raleigh,  the  capital  of  the  State,  saw  its  first  Cath- 
olic church  ;  New  Berne  Catholics  greeted  St.  Patrick's  in 
1844;  and  a  church,  dedicated  to  St.  Mary  and  St.  Josepli, 
arose  in  Lincoln  County,  the  first  fruits  of  Bishop  ReynoMs's 
episcopate;  AVihnington  boasted  of  a  ne;it  Gothic  church,  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Thomas,  in  1847  ;  St.  Peter's  in  Charlotte,  and  St, 
Joseph's  in  Gaston  Count}^,  were  the  next  lighthouses  of  Chris- 
tianity in  a  State  steeped  in  Calvinism. 

War  desolated  the  State,  but  it  broke  up  the  old  chill  of  death. 
Catholicity  became  known.  Churches  at  Halifax,  Tarboro,  and 
Edenton  appear.  When  the  Holy  See  believed  that  a  bishop  on 
the  spot  might  give  the  Church  some  conquests  iu  the  most  uu- 


536  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

Catholic  of  all  States  in  the  Union,  a  bull  of  His  Holiness  the 
revered  Pius  IX.,  dated  March  3d,  18G8,  erected  North  Carolina 
into  a  Vicariate  Apostolic.  The  Right  Rev.  James  Gibbons, 
consecrated  August  10th,  Bishop  of  Adramyttum,  took  charge 
of  the  fold  in  North  Caroliua.  The  Vicariate  lost  Dr.  Corcoian, 
summoned  from  this  unpretending  field  to  Rome  to  prepare  the 
work  of  the  Council  of  the  Vatican  ;  but  the  angel  of  the  Church 
solicited,  and  not  in  vain,  new  favors  and  graces.  The  Vicariate 
began  with  three  priests,  and  only  eight  churches  and  chapels, 
built  and  building,  and  they  did  not  venture  to  claim  a  Catholic 
population  of  more  than  seven  hundred. 

Rarely,  however,  has  there  been  seen  in  this  country  such  a 
movement  to  the  Church.  Its  doctrine,  scriptural  and  plain;  its 
worship^  older  than  the  New  Testament,  and  replete  with  proofs 
of  its  Jewish  origin ;  its  government  a  miracle,  unless  men  ad- 
mit that  the  Church  alone  knows  how  to  govern  men.  All  these 
presented  to  unbiassed  minds  won  acceptance.  At  Newton  Grove 
a  hundred  were  baptized  ;  and  St.  Mark's  church  was  dedicated 
in  Duplin  County  ;  another  congregation  of  converts  erected  a 
church.  Among  the  converts  were  some  already  eminent  in  the 
literature  of  the  country.  The  Benedictines  founded  a  convent 
at  Mariastein  in  Gaston  County,  Greensboro  had  a  church  dedi- 
cated in  January,  1877  ;  Concord  and  Asheville  were  hallowed 
by  the  august  sacrifice  offered  in  churches  of  the  living  God. 
Best  of  all,  schools  were  opened  under  the  devoted  Sisters  of 
Mercy  or  competent  lay  teachers. 

The  zealous  bishop  was  transferred  to  Richmond,  July  30th, 
1872,  still  retaining  the  administration  of  the  Vicariate  till  his 
promotion  to  the  see  of  Baltimore.  It  was  then  under  the  Very 
Rev.  F.  Janssens  as  administrator*  till  the  consecration  of  Bishop 
Keane,  in  1878.      . 


RIGHT  HEV.  BENEDICT  JOSEPH  FLAGET,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  Jiardstowa  and  of  Louisville,  Ky. 


IN"  THE    UN^ITED    STATES.  537 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WEST. — KENTUCKY. 

Diocese  op  Baedstoavx.— Kisht  Rev.  Benedict  J.  Flaget,  D.D.— Early  History— Eng. 
lish  and  French— Extent  of  tlie  diocese— Rev.  S.  T.  Badln— Dominican  Fathers- 
Bishop  Flaget's  coadjutors— Right  Rev.  J.  M.  David— Right  Rev.  G.  I.  Chabrat— Right 
Rev.  M.  J.  Spalding— Division  of  the  diocese— Dr.  Spalding,  Bishop  of  Louisville- 
Bloody  Monday. 

See  of  Covingtox.— Right  Rev.  Peter  J.  Lavialle,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  Wm.  McCloskey. 

The  original  Diocese  of  Baltimore  included  tlie  whole  of  the 
United  States,  as  it  existed  after  the  peace  of  1783  ;  and  thus  em- 
braced some  of  the  early  French  settlements  in  the  West,  which 
had  previously  been  subject  to  the  successors  of  Bishop  Laval. 
Besides  these  there  were  beyond  the  Alleghanies  a  few  Cath- 
olic settlers  among  the  Kentucky  pioneers.  When  the  diocese 
was  divided,  in  1808,  a  see  was  established  at  Bardstown,  and 
the  Rev,  Benedict  J.  Flaget  chosen  as  bishop.  He  was  a  Sulpi- 
tian  driven  from  France  by  the  Revolution,  who  had  already  been 
missionary  at  Vincennes,  and  professor  in  Georgetown  College. 

The  Diocese  of  Bardstown  consisted  apparently  only  of  the 
States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  but  the  bishop  had  tempo- 
rary jurisdiction  also  over  Ohio  and  the  States  west  and  north  of 
it  as  far  as  the  Mississippi. 

Catholic  settlers,  led  by  William  Coomes  of  Maryland,  and 
the  Irish  Dr.  Hart,  settled  at  Harrod's  Station  in  1775,  but  sub- 
sequently removed  to  Bardstown.  Dr.  Hart  finally  gave  his 
farm  to  the  Church,  and  was  buried  on  it  near  old  St.  Joseph's. 
Mrs.  Coomes  opened  the  first  school  in  Kentucky.  After  the 
Revolution  other  Maryland  Catholics — the  Haydens  and  Lan- 
casters — came.  They  generally  settled  together,  and  thus  helped 
to  keep  their  faith  and  pious  practices.  In  the  Indian  troubles 
they  bore  the  brunt  with  their  fellow  settlers,  although  more  than 


538  THE    CATHOLIC    CHUKCH 


once  being  recognized  as  Catholics  by  Indians,  who  revered  the 
early  missioners,  they  escaped. 

There  was  a  priest  belonging  to  one  of  ihe  religious  orders  in 
Kentucky,  in  1785,  officiating,  though  Dr.  Carroll  could  not  yet 
give  him  facilities. 

The  Capuchin  Father,  Charles  Whelan,  after  leaving  New 
York,  accompanied  an  emigrant  party  to  Kentucky  in  1787,  and 
for  more  than  two  years  labored  among  them  with  great  zeal, 
enduring  great  hardship  and  no  little  ingratitude.  The  Rev. 
William  de  Rohan,  who  had  erected  a  log  chapel  at  Holy  Cross, 
was  then  in  Kentucky  for  a  time;  but,  in  1793,  Bishop  Carroll 
sent  to  that  distant  mission  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barrieres  as  Vicar- 
General,  with  Rev.  Stephen  T.  Badin,  the  first  priest  ordained  in 
the  United  States.  Mr.  Barrieres  soon  retired,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Badin 
was  alone  to  minister  to  the  three  hundred  Catholic  families  scat- 
tered through  the  State.  Before  many  years  he  was  joined  by  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  Fournier  and  Salmon,  both  of  whom  were  cut  off 
prematurely,  and  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thayer,  the  famous  convert. 
From  his  chapel  of  St.  Stephen's  Rev.  Mr.  Badin  rode  to  all 
points,  attending  to  his  people ;  encountering  Protestant  minis- 
ters, parrying  bigotry,  and  extending  the  benefits  of  relioion. 

In  1805  he  was  joined  by  the  holy  priest,  Charles  Nerinckx, 
who  in  time  erected  ten  churches,  and  founded  the  Sisterhood 
of  Loretto,  Friends  of  Mary  at  the  Foot  of  the  Cross.  The  next 
vear  the  Dominican  Father  Edward  Fcnwick  arrived  to  examine 
the  country,  and  the  following  year  he  founded  the  convent  of 
St.  Rose,  which  soon  became  a  centre  of  spiritual  blessings. 
These  Er.glish  Dominicans  had  been  driven  from  the  Continent 
of  Europe  by  the  French  Revolution.  Trappists,  sent  by  the 
same  outbreak,  came  in  1805. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Kentucky 
when  the  see  of  Bardstown  was  established,  and  the  Right  Rev. 
Dr.  Flaget  appointed  bishop.    He  was  consecrated  in  1810,  and 


REV.  CHARLES  NERINCKX, 

ili^dona/j/  in  Kentucky. 


11!^   THE    UNITED    STATES.  539 

reached  his  see  June  9tli,  1811,  accompanied  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
David,  one  otlier  priest,  and  three  ecck-'siastics.  A  seminary 
was  soon  estabhshed,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  David  instituted  a  com- 
munity of  Sisters  of  Charity. 

St.  Mary's  College  was  founded  by  Rev.  William  Byrne,  in 
18-21,  and  St.  Joseph's  by  Rev.  G.  A.  M.  Elder. 

Bishop  Flaget's  exertions,  and  the  influence  of  liis  holy  life, 
were  of  incalculable  service  to  Kentucky  and  the  other  parts  of 
his  charge.  He  was  the  first  Catholic  bishop  ever  seen  in  the 
West.  On  his  first  visitation  he  traveled  nearly  a  thousand 
miles,  and,  crossing-  the  Mississippi,  ministered  to  the  priestless 
Catholics  of  St.  Louis.  He  was  so  constantly  engaged  that  he 
solicited  a  coadjutor  ;  and,  in  1817,  his  old  friend  and  associate, 
the  Rev.  J.  B.  M.  David,  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Mauricastro, 
in 2)cirtihus^  and  coadjutor  of  Bardstown. 

Two  years  later  his  cathedral  was  completed,  a  fine  edifice  in 
the  Roman  Corinthian  style,  and  was  consecrated  on  the  9th  of 
August,  1819.  He  was  relieved  of  part  of  his  heavy  burthen 
in  1821,  when  the  see  of  Cincinnati  was  erected,  with  jurisdic- 
tion over  Ohio,  Michigan  Territory,  and  the  Northwest.  The 
Sisters  of  St.  Dominic  were  established  in  1821,  adding  to  the 
institutions  of  the  diocese. 

The  diocese,  in  1824,  lost  the  venerable  Mr.  Nerinckx  ;  but  a 
few  years  later  a  number  of  Jesuit  Fathers  arrived  from  France 
and  assumed  direction  of  St.  Mary^s  College. 

Indiana  was  next  formed  into  a  diocese,  and,  in  1837,  the  see 
of  Nashville  was  established.  The  Rev.  G.  Chabrat  was  con- 
secrated as  coadjutor  in  183-1,  in  place  of  Bishop  David,  who 
had  resigned ;  but,  after  Bishop  Flaget's  visit  to  Europe,  his 
second  coadjutor  also  resigned,  and  the  Rev.  Martin  J.  Spalding 
was  consecrated  on  the  10th  day  of  September,  1848. 

Before  the  close  of  his  long  and  holy  life  Bishop  Flaget  saw 
the  Jesuits  and  Trappists  return  to  his  diocese,  and  tlie  Sisters 


540  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

of  the  Good  Shepherd  fouud  one  of  their  institutions.  By  a 
rescript  of  the  Holy  See  the  seat  of  the  episcopate  had  been  re- 
moved to  Louisville,  in  1841,. and  he  died  there  February  11th, 
1850,  in  the  odor  of  sanctity.  He  was  in  the  eighty-seventh 
year  of  his  age,  the  fortieth  of  his  episcopacy,  and  the  sixty- 
second  of  his  priestho'od.  His  "  children  will  rise  up  and  call 
him  blessed." 

On  the  death  of  this  holy  bishop,  Bishop  Spalding  succeeded 
to  the  see  of  Louisville.  He  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  educated 
at  Rome,  where  he  had  sustained  his  theses  in  a  manner  to  ex- 
cite general  admiration.  He  had  been  pastor  of  the  cathedral, 
President  of  St.  Joseph's  College,  and  Vicar-General.  When  he 
became  bishop  the  diocese  had  a  Catholic  population  of  about 
thirty  thousand,  served  by  forty  priests,  who  attended  forty-three 
churches  and  ten  chapels. 

Bishop  Spalding's  first  efforts  were  devoted  to  a  visitation  ot 
his  diocese,  to  the  establishment  of  orphan  asylums,  and  the 
erection  of  a  suitable  cathedral,  which  was  solemnly  consecrated 
October  3d,  1852,  in  the  presence  of  two  archbishops,  eight 
bishops,  a  mitred  abbot,  and  a  host  of  priests.  He  next  intro- 
duced the  Xaverian  Brothers,  and  Brothers  of  Christian  In- 
struction, to  conduct  parochial  schools  for  boys. 

With  Bishop  Lefebvre  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
American  College,  at  Louvain,  to  increase  the  number  of  priests 
for  the  mission  in  this  country.  His  diocese  embraced  the 
State  of  Kentucky  ;  but,  in  1853,  the  see  of  Covington  was 
erected,  the  diocese  embracing  the  eastern  part  of  the  State. 

During  the  Know-Nothing  excitement  of  1855  the  mob  made 
an  attack  on  the  Catholics,  killing  many  in  the  streets  or  burn- 
ing them  alive  in  their  houses.  The  churches  were  threatened, 
but  none  destroyed,  on  a  day  still  remembered  in  Louisville  as 
Bloody  Monday. 

The  civil  war  made  Kentucky  a  scene  of  warlike  prepara- 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  541 

tion  and  of  frequeut  blood}^  eiigngements ;  colleges  became  hos- 
pitals; and  Sisters,  leaving  their  quiet  schools,  became  hospital 
nurses,  dying  in  their  charitable  work.  In  the  violence  of  the 
times  a  law  was  passed  imposing  an  oath  on  any  clergyman 
celebrating  marriage  :  against  this  the  bishop  protested,  on  tlie 
ground  that  the  State  could  not  impose  conditions  on  a  priest  in 
a  purely  spiritual  act. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1864,  the  faithful  had  in- 
creased to  seventy  thousand,  possessing  eighty-five  churches, 
with  parochial  and  higher  schools,  asylums,  and  institutions  of 
mercy. 

Louisville,  at  this  time,  lost  her  excellent  bishop,  who  was 
promoted  by  Pope  Pius  IX.  to  the  see  of  Baltimore. 

As  successor  to  Dr.  Spalding  the  Rev.  Peter  Joseph  Lavialle 
was  consecrated,  September  24th,  1805.  He  was  born  at  La- 
vialle, France,  in  1820,  and  had  been  a  professor  at  St.  Thomas's 
Seminary,  and  President  of  St.  Mary's  College.  He  made  sev- 
eral visitations  of  his  diocese,  and  stimulated  by  his  exertions 
the  erection  of  churches  at  points  where  they  were  required. 
His  health,  however,  was  very  frail,  and,  after  a  brief  illness,  he 
expired.  May  11th,  1867. 

The  Right  Rev.  William  McCloskey,  D.D.,  consecrated  May 
24th,  1868,  brought  great  energy  to  the  direction  of  affairs, 
and,  though  difficulties  arose,  the  progress  of  religion  has  been 
great.  The  Catholic  population  of  the  diocese,  in  1878,  was 
estimated  at  150,000,  with  a  theological  seminary,  two  colleges, 
one  hundred  and  two  churches,  attended  by  one  hundred  and 
twenty-one  piiests,  fifty-nine  academies  and  schools,  and  eight 
charitable  institutions. 

DIOCESE   OF   COVINGTON",   1853. 

The  diocese  of  Bardstown  was  first  reduced  by  the  erection  ot 
the  see  of  Nashville  in  1837,  the  new  diocese  comprising  the 


4— 


542  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

State  of  Tennessee  and  leaving  Kentucky  still  under  the  bishop 
of  the  more  ancient  see,  except  Covington  and  Newport  oppo- 
site Cincinnati,  whicli  were  placed  under  the  bishop  of  that  city. 
But,  with  the  progress  of  Catholicity,  the  whole  State  had  be- 
come a  field  too  large  for  the  due  supervision  and  visitation  of  a 
bishop,  and,  in  1853,  the  Holy  See,  at  the  request  of  the  hierar- 
chy, formed  that  part  of  the  State  lying  east  of  the  Kentucky 
River,  and  of  the  western  limit  of  Carroll,  Owen,  Franklin, 
Woodford,  Jessamine,  Garrard,  Rock  Castle,  Laurel,  and  Whit- 
.  ley  counties,  into  a  new  diocese,  the  episcopal  see  being  fixed 
at  Covington. 

As  bishop  of  this  new  diocese  the  Rev.  George  Aloysius  Car- 
rell,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  was  selected,  and  he  was  consecrated 
at  Cincinnati,  on  the  feast  of  All  Saints,  1853.  Covington  then 
had  two  churches;  Lexington,  Maysville,  Frankfort,  and  Newport, 
wdth  Scott  County,  Mount  St.  John,  and  Twelve-Mile  Creek, 
could  boast  each  of  one ;  there  was  an  orphan  asylum  and 
schools,  including  the  St.  Catherine's  Female  Academy,  directed 
by  the  Sisters  of  Charity  since  1823.  The  clergy  numbered 
seven. 

The  bishop  at  once  began  the  erection  of  the  cathedral  church 
of  St.  Mary,  in  Covington,  and  two  other  churches  were  com- 
menced. His  first  great  care  was  to  encourage  the  building  of 
churches  wherever  they  could  with  prudence  be  undertaken,  and 
in  all  places  to  stimulate  the  establishment  of  Catholic  schools. 
Long  a  missionary  in  bis  native  state,  Pennsylvania,  as  well  as 
in  Delaware  and  Missouri,  for  years  professor  or  president  in 
colleges,  he  was  alive  to  the  wants  of  the  mission  and  the  school. 
As  his  diocese  was  part  of  the  State  wliere  slave  labor  was  not 
general,  emigration  flowed  in,  and  several  German  Catholic 
churches  arose  ;  the  venerable  Benedictine  order,  as  vigorous  in 
the  New  World  as  in  the  old,  came  on  to  minister  to  German 
congregations  and  open  academies,  Dom  Louis  Fink,  afterward 


IN  THE  U]S'ITED  STATES.  ^543 

Bishop  of  Leavenworth,  being  prior.  Nuns  of  the  samo  order 
opened  schools,  the  Sisters  of  Charity  spread  their  institutions, 
so  that  when  the  terrible  year  1861  eame,  the  diocese  had  thirty 
churches,  and  twenty-thiee  priests,  who  visited  thirty-seven 
stations,  a  college,  six  academies,  twelve  schools,  an  hospital,  and 
20,000  of  the  faithful. 

Even  amid  the  war  that  was  paralyzing  the  country,  and  in 
this  border  State,  religion  advanced.  Visitation  and  Ursuline  nuns 
and  Sisters  of  St.  Francis  came  to  increase  the  number  of  acade- 
mies and  schools,  so  that,  in  18G8,  the  diocese  had  thirty  priests, 
forty  two  chuiclies,  twenty-four  colleges,  academies,  and  schools. 
It  was  the  close  of  the  life  of  the  first  bishop,  who  died  Septem- 
ber 25th,  1868,  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age. 

The  Very  Rev.  James  M.  Lancaster,  of  an  old  Catholic  fam- 
ily in  Kentucky,  administered  the  diocese  till  his  death,  May  3d, 

1869,  at  the  age  of  sixty;  and  then  the  diocese  was  directed  by 
the  Very  Rev.  John  A.  McGill,  till  the  installation  of  the  Right 
Rev.  Augustus  M.  Toebbe,  who  was  consecrated  January  9th, 

1870.  Meanwhile  the  charitable  institutions  had  developed: 
foundling  and  orphan  asylums  had  arisen,  and  all  awaited  the 
quickening  impulse  of  a  bishop. 

Dr.  Toebbe  introduced  the  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  to 
conduct  a  female  reform  school,  and  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  to 
aid  in  the  instruction  of  youth. 

In  1878,  he  estimated  the  faithful  in  his  diocese  at  40,000, 
under  the  ministry  of  fifty-six  priests,  with  fifty-two  churches, 
and  fifty  stations  where  the  holy  sacrifice  was  offered,  and  thirty- 
five  parochial  schools;  in  his  episcopal  city  the  churches  had 
iucieased  from  the  two  of  1853  to  nine. 


544  THE  CATHOLIC  CHUECH 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

STATE   OF  TENNESSEE. — DIOCESE  OF  NASHYILLE   (1837). 

Right  Rev.  Richard  P.  Miles— A  bishop  without  a  church  or  priest— Progress— Right 
Rev.  James  Whelan,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  P.  A.  Feehan,  D.D. 

Tennessee  reraained  under  the  diiection  of  the  Bishop  of 
Bardstown  till  1837,  when  it  was  erected  into  a  separate  diocese, 
less  fiom  any  great  increase  of  the  Catholic  body  than  to  relieve 
the  Bishop  of  Bardstown,  and  give  a  field  for  the  zeal  of  a  new 
superior.  Far  inland,  with  no  great  river,  and  a  narrow  front  on 
the  Mississippi,  a  State  still  employing  slavery,  Tennessee  could 
not  invite  Catholic  emigrants. 

The  first  bishop  was  the  Right  Rev.  Richard  Pius  Miles,  Pro- 
vincial of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic.  He  was  consecrated  Septem- 
ber 16th,  1836,  and  took  his  place  among  the  sixteen  bishops  then 
constituting  the  hierarchy.  His  diocese  was  spiritually  a  desert — 
a  hundred  Catholic  families  scattered  over  a  large  State,  without 
a  church  or  a  priest.  The  bishop  stood  alone  in  his  diocese, 
and  had  scarcely  secured  a  boarding  place  in  his  episcopal  city 
when  he  was  pro'strated  by  a  dangerous  fever ;  he  might  have 
died  unattended  had  not  the  Angel  of  the  Church  guided  a 
transient  priest  to  his  bed-side.  On  I'ccovering,  he  began  his 
labors  by  giving  a  mission  in  Nashville  :  it  resulted  in  nine  com- 
munions. The  Church  of  the  Holy  Rosary  there,  with  one 
priest,  the  Very  Rev.  Joseph  Stokes,  constituted  all  in  1840. 
Then  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Clancy,  McAleer  and  Maguire  joined 
him,  so  that  Bishop  Miles  had  one  church  and  five  priests,  yet 
courageously  began  an  academy  and  a  seminary.  Rev.  Mr. 
McAleer,  who  was  laboring  still  as  pastor  of  St.  Columba's,  New 
York  in  1878,  built  the  church  at  Memphis.     The  first  arch- 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  545 

bishop  of  San  Francisco,  while  a  mipsionaiy,  attended  a  large 
district ;  Mr.  Mngnire  and  Father  Cubero  had  several  counties 
ill  East  Tennessee,  and  two  missionaries  attended  West  Ten- 
nessee. Ill  June,  184:4,  aided  by  Protestant  and  Catholic  alike, 
Bishop  Miles  laid  the  corner-stone  of  his  new  cathedral  of  St. 
Mary's,  on  Summer  and  Cedar  streets,  a  fine  edifice  with  a 
graceful  spire.  And  so  the  work  went  on  till  the  bishop  saw 
thirteen  })riests  beside  him,  fourteen  churches,  a  convent  of  the 
Dominican  Friars,  one  of  tlie  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic,  Sisters  of 
Charily,  academies,  and  parish  schools. 

Broken  by  the  severe  labor  of  mission  life,  he  sought  a  co- 
adjutor: the  Riuht  Rev.  James  Whelan,  0.  P.,  was  consecrated, 
May  8th,  1859,  Bishop  of  Marcopolis  and  coadjutor;  and  when 
Bishop  Miles  calmly  and  piously  expired,  February  21st,  1860, 
succeeded  to  the  See.  In  the  civil  war  that  begun  the  next  year, 
Tennessee  was  the  scene  of  many  bloody  battles,  and  of  constant 
hostile  movements.  Desolation  reigned  in  all  parts  of  the 
diocese,  and  the  bishop  resigning  in  May,  1863,  left  it  without  a 
chief  pastor. 

The  Right  Rev.  P.  A.  Feehan,  D.D.,  consecrated  on  the  feast 
of  Ail  Saints,  1865,  set  to  work  to  restore  the  spirit  of  religion. 
Twelve  churches,  attended  by  fifteen  priests,  were  all  thatcould 
be  reported  in  1866.  Under  his  zealous  care  Nashville,  in  1878, 
had  three  churrJies;  Memphis  four;  the  other  parts  of  the  dio- 
cese, twenty-two :  thirty-three  priests,  assisted  by  Christian 
Bi  others,  Dominican  Sisters,  Sisters  of  Mercy,  of  the  Good  Shep- 
herd, of  St.  Joseph,  and  of  the  Most  Precious  Blood,  with 
twenty-five  hundred  children  in  Catholic  schools,  show  a  won- 
derful progiess  in  one  of  the  most  difficult  fields. 

In  the  terrible  yellow  fever  of  1878,  before  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember, nine  priests  and  thirteen  sisters  died  in  Memphis  attend- 
ing the  sick.  Among  the  priests  were  the  Very  Rev.  Martin 
O'Riordan,  V.G.,  who  had    accompanied   Bishop  Feehan  to 


546  THE  CATHOLIC  CHUECH 

the  diocese,  and  erected  St.  Patiick's  clmrch,  and  schools;  and 
tlio  Rev.  Martin  Walsh,  pastor  of  St.  Bridget's  church,  three 
Dominicans  and  one  Frauciscan. 


CHAPTER    XXXIIT. 

STATE   OF   OHIO. 

Diocese  of  Cixciknati,  1821.  — Early  Jesuit  mission  at  Sandusky— Father  Bonn&- 
camp  on  the  Ohio— Rev.  Mr.  Baclin's  visit— The  Dominican  Father  Edward  Fen- 
wiclc— The  Dittoes— Father  Fenwick  made  Bishop  of  Cincinnati— Dies  of  Cholera- 
Most  Rev.  John  B.  Puroell  second  Bishop— First  Archbishop. 

Diocese  of  Clevelaxd,  1847.— Eight  Rev.  Amadeus  Rappe,  D.D.— Eight  Eev.  Eichard 
Gilmour,  D.D. 

Diocese  of  Columbus,  1863.— Eight  Eev.  Silvester  H.  Eosecrans,  D.D. 

The  first  seat  of  Catholicity  in  the  State  of  Ohio  is  San- 
dusky, where  some  of  the  converted  Tionontates,  or  Wyandots, 
began  to  settle  about  the  year  17-40.  In  1741,  Father  Arraand 
de  la  Richardie,  S.J.,  led  a  p^rty  there  to  form  a  perma- 
nent settlement,  and  withdraw  uhem  fiom  the  temptations  of 
the  French  post  at  Detroit.  Here  a  chapel  was  erected,  and 
mass  reo-ularly  celebrated  for  sorre  years,  till  chief  Nicholas 
drove  the  missionary  away.  He  eturned,  however,  in  1747. 
This  mission  was  regularly  attended  or  visited  down  to  the  fall 
of  the  French  power.  The  Wyandots  remained  Catholics  till 
the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  when,  deprived  of  mis- 
sionaries, the  untaught  children,  as  they  grew  up,  listened  to 
Protestant  teachers. 

Another  Jesuit  Father,  Joseph  Peler  de  Bonnecamp,  who  ac- 
companied de  Celoron's  expedition  as  chaplain,  in  all  likelihood 
said  mass  near  Marietta  and  Portsmouth,  in  Hamilton  County, 
and  at  Fort  Loramie,  as  well  as  at  other  j^oints  on  his  route. 

The  French,  however,  had  no  permanent  post ;  and  the  first 
settlements  after  the  Revolution  included  few    Catholics.      In 


11^  THE    UNITED   STATES.  547 

1790,  a  iinmbcr  of  leading  men  in  France  became  interested  in 
a  scheme  for  forming  a  colony  between  the  Ohio  and  the  Scioto, 
which  led  to  the  settlement  of  Gallipolis.  Some  steps  were 
taken  to  secure  the  colonists  the  consolations  of  religion,  and  ap- 
plication was  made  to  Kome,  where  it  was  proposed  to  appoint 
a  French  clergyman  prefect  of  the  mission,  subject  to  Bishop 
Carroll ;  no  suggestion  of  a  bishop  at  Gallipolis  appears  in  the 
ofliL'ial  documents ;  but  all  this  led  to  no  result — no  priest  ac- 
companied the  seven  thousand  colonists,  none  was  sent  to  the 
settlement;  and,  as  it  soon  broke  up,  those  who  remained  lived 
without  rt^ligion. 

^Yhen  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barriere  and  Rev.  S.  T.  Badin,  in  1793, 
reached  Gallipolis,  they  remained  three  days,  sang  high  mass, 
and  baptized  forty  children. 

In  1810,  the  Dominicans  of  Kentucky  bore  the  cross  into 
Ohio.  Father  Edward  Fenwick,  a  native  of  Maryland,  who 
won  his  way  among  men  of  all  creeds  and  none,  pushed  his 
way  through  the  lising  State  in  all  directions,  Neai"  the  centre 
of  Ohio,  not  far  from  Somerset,  he  found  three  Catholic  fam- 
ilies, who  had  not  seen  a  priest  for  ten  years;  after  ministering 
to  them  he  found  others  ;  and,  as  twice  a  year  he  continued  his 
missionary  excursions,  the  number  of  his  scattered  flock  increased 
till  he,  to  his  joy,  found  seven  families  in  Cincinnati,  the  ven- 
erable Michael  Scott  being  one  of  these  pioneers  of  the  ftiith. 

Bishop  Flaget  visited  Ohio  in  October,  1812,  and  said  mass 
at  the  house  of  the  Dittoes,  near  Somerset,  who  were  already 
projecting  a  church,  and  for  which  Peter  Dittoe  gave  three 
bundled  and  twenty  acres  of  ground.  Here  the  log  chapel  of 
St.  Joseph,  for  a  congregation  often  families,  was  b!e-sed,  De- 
cember Gth,  1818,  by  Father  Fenwick  and  Father  N.  D.  Young, 
who,  outliving  all  his  cotemporary  priests,  died  in  the  autumn 
of  1878.  A  stone  addition  was  soon  needed,  and,  in  a  short 
time,  a  brick  church. 


548  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

The  Dominican  convent  established  here  became  a  centre  of 
Gospel  truth.  Congregations  were  collected  at  Somerset,  Lan- 
castei',  Zanesville,  St.  Barnabas,  Rehoboth,  and  St.  Pati'ick's. 
The  barn-like  plank  building  near  Dayton  was  the  next  Ohio 
church. 

Pope  Pius  VII.,  on  the  19th  of  June,  1821,  at  the  advice  of 
Bishop  Flaget,  erected  the  see  of  Cincinnati,  appointing  as  first 
bishop  Father  Edward  Fen  wick,  who  was  consecrated  in  St. 
Rose's,  Kentucky,  January  13th,  1822,  by  Bishop  Flaget.  Be- 
sides the  State  of  Ohio,  Michigan  Territory,  including  what  is 
now  Wisconsin,  was  placed  under  his  administration. 

He  took  possession  of  his  See,  hired  a  house,  and  sent  out  for 
his  first  meal.  He  then  began  to  see  the  extent  of  the  calls  upon 
him.  He  bought  a  lot,  and  erected  a  wooden  chapel,  thirty  feet 
by  fifty -five,  for  his  cathedi-al.  The  next  year  he  set  out  for 
Rome  to  lay  before  the  Holy  Father  the  wants  of  hil  diocese. 
From  his  personal  examination,  he  estimated  the  Catholics  of 
Ohio  at  eight  thousand,  and  two  thousand  Indians  on  Seneca 
River  ;  in  Michigan  he  estimated  the  Catholics  at  ten  or  twelve 
thousand. 

Already  Ohio  had  four  or  five  wooden  churches  built,  and  as 
many  more  in  progress ;  converts  were  coming  in,  but  he  had 
no  priests,  no  seminary,  no  means. 

His  appeal  in  Europe  was  successful — he  returned  with  sub- 
stantial aid,  vestments,  a  rich  tabernacle  given  by  Pope  Leo 
XII.,  paintings.  He  then  began  the  erection  of  a  cathedral, 
which  was  dedicated  the  first  Sunday  of  Advent,  1826.  After 
this  he  madea  visitation  of  his  diocese,  preceded  by  some  priests, 
who  gave  a  kind  of  mission  in  preparation;  the  result  was  nearly 
a  thousand  communions,  the  reclaiming  of  many  sinners,  and  the 
conversion  of  many  to  the  faith.  Sectarians  took  alarm.  They 
cried  out  that  the  three  Catholic  families  in  Ohio  in  1810,  had 
increased  to  14,000  souls  in  1830.     Bishop  Fenwick  extended 


11^  THE  UNITED  STATES.  549 

his  visitation  to  Michigan  ;  then  attended  the  Provincial  Council 
at  Baltimore,  returning  to  resume  his  visitations.  These  he 
continued  without  relaxation.  In  the  dangerous  season  of  1832 
he  was  attacked  by  cholera,  at  Saut  St.  Mary's,  and  recovering 
kept  on  his  duties  till  he  was  again  stricken  down  in  the  stage 
coach  going  to  Wooster,  where  he  died  September  26th. 

Living  only  for  his  flock,  and  laboring  for  them,  he  had 
called  in  to  aid  him  the  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic,  Sisters  of  Char- 
ity, and  the  Poor  Clares.  He  founded  at  Cincinnati  the  Athe- 
naeum now  St.  Xavier's  College;  and,  in  1831,  established  the 
"  Catholic  Telegraph,"  now  the  oldest  of  our. Catholic  papers. 

Dr.  Fenwick  was  succeeded  by  the  Right  Rev.  John  B. 
Purcell,  who  was  consecrated  October  13th,  1833,  and  occupied 
the  See  for  more  than  forty-five  years,  living  to  behold  two  other 
sees  erected  in  the  State,  and  to  be  himself  invested  with  the 
pallium  as  archbishop;  attend  numerous  provincial  and  plenary 
councils  at  Baltimore;  hold  provincial  councils  in  his  own  city, 
and  attend  a  general  council  of  the  Church.  He  had  been  for 
eight  years  President  of  Mount  St.  Mary's  College,  at  Emmitts- 
burg,  and  thus  known  by  many  priests  whom  he  had  trained, 
some  of  whom  now  came  to  join  him. 

In  1836  he  had  a  second  Catholic  church  in  Cincinnati,  while 
others  arose  in  other  parts  of  the  diocese ;  the  next  year  he 
could  count  thirty-two  churches  and  stations,  twenty-one  priests, 
a  seminary,  a  college,  a  female  academy  and  an  asylum.  Pro- 
testants took  alarm  at  the  piogress  of  Catholicity  in  the  West. 
Beecher  had  issued  his  "  Plea  for  the  West;"  Morse,  who  was 
to  be  decorated  with  an  Order  by  a  Pope,  issued  his  "  Brutus ;" 
and  a  Rev.  Mr.  Campbell  began  a  controversy  with  Bishop 
Purcell.  It  was  the  occasion  of  a  new  triumph  for  Catholic  ' 
truth  ;  and,  in  the  general  interest  the  controversy  caused,  a  so- 
ciety for  the  diffusion  of  religious  knowledge  was  established. 
The  Dominicans  began  to  erect  a  fine  Gothic  church  at  St. 


550  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

Joseph's ;  the  Jesuits,  in  November,  1840,  opened  St.  Xavier's 
College;  temperance  societies  were  organized  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Church.  Then  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  from 
Namur,  came  to  open  academies  and  schools. 

In  1844,  the  diocese  received  some  Fathers  of  the  Congrega- 
tion of  the  Most  Precious  Blood,  founded  by  the  Yen,  Caspar  di 
Bufalo,  led  by  the  Rev.  Francis  de  Sales  Brunner,  who  have 
now  for  more  than  thirty  years  labored  in  the  West.  Thus 
increased,  the  diocese  could,  in  1846,  boast  seventy  churches, 
seventy-three  priests,  and  70,000  people.  The  Ursuline  Nuns 
had  also  come  and  founded,  in  Brown  County,  a  convent  and 
academy,  which  to  this  day  have  been  the  greatest  benefit. 

It  was  deemed  advisable  at  this  period  to  divide  the  diocese, 
and  erect  a  new  See  at  Cleveland,  with  jurisdiction  over  that 
part  of  the  State  noith  of  40"41'.  The  cities  of  Covington  and 
Newport,  in  Kentucky,  which  had  grown  up  opposite  Cincin- 
nati, and  immediately  under  the  eye  of  the  bishop  of  that  city, 
■were  placed  under  his  care. 

The  diocese,  as  thus  reduced,  was  estimated  to  contain  about 
fifty  churches  and  priests,  and  as  many  thousand  Catholics, 

The  progress  of  the  diocese,  in  which  great  numbers  of  Cath- 
olic Germans  had  settled,  was  very  rapid  ;  and  the  increase  of 
population  was  attended  by  a  development  of  schools  as  well  as 
of  churches.  The  Brothers  of  Mary,  a  community  founded  by  the 
Rev.  William  Joseph  Cheminade,  canon  of  Bordeaux,  and  ap- 
proved in  1839,  were  introduced  to  direct  German  parochial 
schools,  and  have  rendered  essential  service.  In  1850  the  pro- 
vince of  Baltimore  was  divided,  and  Cincinnati  was  raised  to  an 
archiepiscopal  See,  with  the  bishops  of  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Louis- 
ville, and  Vincennes  as  suffragans,  the  number  having  been  since 
doubled  by  the  division  of  dioceses. 

In  the  following  year,  to  the  consolation  of  the  archbishop, 
he  opened  the  ecclesiastical  seminary  of  Mount  St.  Mary's  of  the 


li^"  THE   UNITED   STATES.  551 

West,  which  he  had  founded  in  1848.  Its  organization  was 
committed  to  tlie  Ivev.  ^licliael  Ilallinan  as  i)resident,  a  learned 
priest  educated  at  St.  Snlpice,  Paris.  Tlie  institution  has  fully 
justified  the  hopes  of  the  venerable  foundei',  and  in  its  facul- 
ty, its  thorough  course,  its  extended  library,  ranks  among  the 
greatest  theological  seminaries  of  the  country. 

The  Ursulines  about  this  time  founded  a  convent  at  Cincin- 
nati, and  when  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  in  1852,  affiliated  them- 
selves to  the  order  in  France,  those  in  the  Diocese  of  Cincinnati 
clung  to  the  dress  and  rule  of  Mother  Seton,  and  remained  as  a 
distinct  community  under  the  archbishop.  They  are  now  in  a 
flourisliing  state,  with  250  memb-rs,  in  several  dioceses,  direct- 
ino-  schools  and  cbaritable  institutions. 

o 

A  pastoral  letter  on  marriage  was  issued  in  December,  1853, 
laying  down  clearly  the  rules  of  tlie  Church,  and  the  duties  and 
oblio-ations  of  Catholics  who  receive  that  sacrament. 

On  the  13th  of  May,  1855,  the  first  Provincial  Council  of 
Cincinnati  convened  in  the  Cathedral,  the  Most  Rev.  Arch- 
bishop presiding  ;  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Lefevere,  Administrator 
of  Detroit ;  Right  Rev.  A.  Rappe,  Bishop  of  Cleveland  ;  Right 
Rev.  M.  J.  Spalding,  Bishop  of  Louisville;  Right  Rev.  G.  A. 
Carrell,  Bishop  of  Covington  ;  Right  Rev.  Frederick  Baraga, 
Bishop  of  Amyzonia  and  Vicar-Apostolic  of  Upper  Michigan, 
taking  part  in  the  work  of  the  Council;  Bishop  de  St.  Palais 
alone  being  absent  of  all  the  suffragans.  Besides  the  bishops 
there  ^^ere  present  the  Provincials  of  the  Dominicans,  Francis- 
cans, and  Jesuits,  the  Superior  of  the  Priests  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
and  the  Vicar  of  the  Superior  of  the  Priests  Pretiosissimi  San- 
guinis. 

The  pastoral  letter  issued  after  the  close  of  the  Council  dwelt 
especially  upon  Catholic  schools,  declaring  their  erection,  in 
many  respects,  as  important  an  object  as  the  building  of  new 


552  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

churches.     Temperance,  zeal  for  the  house  of  God,  patience  in 
persecution,  and  piety,  were  inculcated. 

In  the  pastoral  on  the  decrees  of  the  Council  praise  is  given 
to  the  excellence  of  the  German  schools,  which  are  ciied  as 
models.  It  also  alluded  to  a  recent  iniquitous  law,  leading  the 
way  to  the  confiscation  of  Catholic  church  property,  which  had, 
however,  been  repealed. 

A  second  Council  was  held  on  the  2d  of  Ma}^  1858,  and  at- 
tended by  all  the  bishops  of  the  province.  Dr.  Baraga  as  Bishop 
of  Saut  Ste.  Marie,  and  Right  Rev.  John  H.  Luers,  the  newly 
appointed  Bishop  of  Fort  Wayne. 

On  the  13th  of  October,  1858,  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop 
celebrated  the  Silver  Jubilee  of  his  elevation  to  the  See  of. 
Cincinnati.  Addresses  were  made  by  the  clergy  and  faithful, 
the  venerable  Very  Rev.  J.  Ferneding  leading  in  this  as  he 
had  done  in  so  many  good  works  of  the  diocese.  The  bishops 
of  the  province  joined  in  their  congratulations  to  their  metro- 
politan. 

About  the  year  1860,  the  Franciscan  Sisters  of  the  Poor,  the 
Sisters  of  Mercy,  and  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  began  their 
labors  in  this  diocese.  By  this  time  there  were  in  Cincinnati, 
besides  the  Cathedral,  more  than  twenty  churches,  and  in  the 
diocese  there  were  a  hundred  and  forty-eight,  with  one  hundred 
and  twenty-three  priests,  and  the  Catholics  in  the  diocese  were 
estimated  at  160,000;  several  of  the  larger  cities,  asChillicothe, 
Columbus,  Dayton,  Fayetteville,  Hamilton,  Piqua,  Portsmouth, 
and  Zanesville,  had  each  two  churches. 

On  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  in  the  year  1862,  the  Rev. 
Sylvester  H.  Rosecrans,  an  American,  who  had,  as  priest  and 
professor  in  the  seminary,  been  laborinsj  in  the  diocese  since  his 
ordination,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Pompeiopolis,  and  bishop 
auxiliar  of  Cincinnati.  With  the  aid  thus  given  to  the  vener- 
able archbishop  religion  continued  to  progress,  and  the  diocese 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  BAPTIST  PURCELL,  D.D., 

Archbishop  of  Cincinnati. 


IN   THE    UKITED   STATES.  553 

soon  numbered  eighty  parochial  schools.  In  18G8,  a  further 
division  of  the  diocese  took  place,  and  a  new  See  was  erected  at 
Columbus,  to  which  Dr.  Kosecraus  was  transferred,  the  diocese 
of  Cincinnati  embracing  only  that  part  of  Ohio  south  of  40°  41' 
and  west  of  the  Scioto,  with  a  hundred  and  fifteen  churches,  a 
hundred  and  thirty-five  priests,  and  an  estimated  Catholic  pop- 
ulation of  139,000. 

Just  before  this  the  Archbishop  engaged  in  a  controversy 
with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Vickers,  a  Protestant  clergyman ;  but  the 
period  for  such  discussions  seemed  to  liave  passed. 

In  1870,  the  question  of  the  common  schools  came  up  in 
Cincinnati.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  offer  had  been  distinctly 
made  to  adapt  the  education  of  Catholic  children  in  Catholic 
schools  to  State  requirement,  as  to  branches  of  study  and  the 
general  efficiency,  and  make  the  schools  a  part  of  the  general 
system  of  the  State.  If  the  object  of  public  schools  was  merely 
to  give  a  certain  amount  of  instruction,  this  should  have  been 
accepted  ;  but  as  the  object  is  mainly  to  proselytize  Catholics, 
at  tlie  public  expense,  it  was  refused.  The  next  point  was  to 
test  the  question — whether,  in  schools  supported  by  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  proselytizing  could  be  carried  on  by  the  use 
of  the  now  commonly  received  Protestant  Bible  ;  the  spurious 
Protestant  Lord's  Prayer,  Protestant  hymns  and  prayers?  The 
courts  decided  that  the  proselytizing  is  legal.  Two  judges  con- 
giatulated  themselves,  and  censured  a  dissenting  colleague,  on 
the  ground  that  they  had  avoided  the  real  issue  by  never  using 
the  words  ''Protestant  religion"!  And  the  whole  affair  was 
debated  and  decided  without  any  attempt  to  define  the  word 
"  Bil)le,"  that  was  constantly  used. 

Archbishop  Purcell  attended  the  memorable  assemblies  of  the 
episcopate,  at  Rome,  in  the  reign  of  Pius  IX.;  and  was  one  of 
the  minority  in  the  great  question  of  the  Vatican  Council. 

On  the  4th  of  June,  1876,  he  celebrated  the  golden  jubilee  of 


554  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

his  ordination,  and  is  now  the  senior  bishop,  not  only  of  this 
country,  but  almost  of  the  world. 

In  1878,  the  small  frame  Cincinnati  church  of  1819  has 
been  replaced  by  an  elegant  cathedral,  and  forty-four  other 
churches.  The  rest  of  the  diocese,  twice  reduced  as  it  has  been, 
contains  a  hundred  and  fifty  churches.  There  are  religious  men 
of  seven  different  rules,  including  the  Passionists,  introduced  in 
1871;  and  relio-ious  women  of  eight  different  orders.  The  great 
theological  seminary  has  more  than  a  hundred  students ;  and  a 
Catholic  population  of  a  quarter  of  a  million,  taxed  by  the  State 
for  a  system  of  education  that  eliminates  from  the  infant  mind 
all  the  moral  control  of  religion,  support  one  hundred  and  foity 
parochial  schools,  which  will  yet  be  recognized  as  one  of  the 
greatest  elements  of  the  national  welfare. 

During  the  long  administration  of  Archbishop  Purcell,  he  has 
numbered  among  his  clergy  a  host  who  have  been  raised  to  the 
episcopate.  Archbishops  Henni,  Lamy,  and  Wood,  Bishops 
Juncker,  Young,  Macheboeuf,  De  Goesbriand,  Rappe,  R<ise- 
crans,  Toebbe,  Gilmour,  Luers,  and  Borgess;  priests  eminent  for 
their  writings  as  Purcell,  Weninger,  Smarius,  McLeod,  Barry, 
Pabisch. 

DIOCESE   OF   CLEVELAITD,   1847. 

When  the  diocese  of  Cleveland  was  set  off  from  that  of  Cin- 
cinnati, in  1847,  the  Right  Rev.  Amadeus  Rappe  was  appointed 
bishop,  and  consecrated  October  10th,  in  that  year.  He  was 
Ihu-u  February  2d,  1801,  at  Andrehern,  France,  and,  by  his 
own  energy,  obtained  an  education,  and  devoted  his  life  to  God. 
He  came  to  America  in  1840,  and  evinced  such  zeal  and  ability 
that  he  was  selected  to  organize  the  new  episcopal  district. 
It  embraced  the  site  of  the  first  Catholic  church  in  Ohio — 
the  old  Jesuit  chapel  at  Sandusky— and  was  in  better  condition 
than  new  dioceses  generally.  There  were  churches  at  Cleveland, 


IN"  THE   UK'ITED   STATES.  555 

Sandusky,  Tiffin,  Toledo,  and  other  points,  to  the  number  of 
tliirty-three,  -sviih  sixteen  priests,  including  those  of  the  com- 
munity of  the  Most  Pit'cious  Blood,  with  Sisters  following  the 
same  rule,  who  observed  a  perpetual  adoration  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament,  to  obtain  of  God  an  increase  of  religion  in  the  United 
States,  and  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  who  had  a  flourishing  acadeni}'- 
at  Toledo. 

Bishop  Rappe  devoted  himself  to  develop  the  resources  of 
his  diocese  to  meet  the  wants  of  an  increasing  flock.  He  estab- 
lished St,  Mary's  Ecclesiastical  Seminary,  and  St.  John's  College 
at  Cleveland,  and  introduced  the  Ursuline  Nuns,  who  founded 
an  academy  in  the  same  city;  the  Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
of  Mary  took  charge  of  the  orphan  asylum ;  and  Augustinian 
Sisters  of  a  charity  hospital,  which  is  to  this  day  the  greatest 
and  almost  the  only  institution  of  the  kind  in  the  city. 

The  bishop  was  a  man  of  singular  eloquence,  speaking  several 
languages  with  fluency  ;  but  he  devoted  himself  especially  to  the 
poor,  and  to  the  education  of  children. 

Many  of  the  churches  in  Northern  Ohio  had  already  been 
erected  by  his  exertions.  At  Cleveland  he  found  only  one 
church,  St.  Mary's  of  the  Flats.  •  He  soon  commenced  the  erec- 
tion of  a  suitable  cathedral,  and  gave  an  impulse  to  the  building 
of  a  church  and  school  wherever,  stimulated  by  his  zeal  and 
eloquence,  the  people  could  maintain  them.  He  visited  every 
church  and  station  in  his  diocese  at  least  once  a  year,  and  was 
assiduous  in  the  confessional ;  and,  in  preaching,  generally  deliv- 
ering two  sermons  every  Sunday. 

Under  such  a  bishop  religion  could  not  but  prosper.  After 
an  administration  of  twenty-three  years  he  saw  100,000  Catli- 
olics  under  his  care  ;  he  had  a  hundred  and  sixty  cliurches,  and 
a  hundred  and  seven  priests;  a  school  wherever  there  w^as  a 
resident  pastor,  with  an  average  attendance  ranging  from  fifty  to 
a  thousand  pupils.     Religious  orders,  the  Sons  of  St,  Francis 


556  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

and  St.  Ignatius,  Brotheis  of  Mary,  Gray  Nuds,  Sisters  of  the 
Iluniility  of  Mary,  Franciscan  Sisters,  Hor-pital  Sisters  of  the 
Third  Order,  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  Little  Sisters  of 
the  Poor,  were  all  pursuing  their  especial  work  for  the  glory  of 
God. 

Yet  trouble  arose :  malice  did  not  spare  even  so  excellent  a 
bishop;  and  Dr.  Rappe,  finding  that  his  presence  might  preju- 
dice instead  of  benefiting  the  cause  of  religion,  resigned  his  See, 
August  2d,  1870,  with  no  repining  and  no  rancor.  He  retired 
to  the  diocese  of  his  old  friend  and  fellow-laborer  in  Ohio.  Bishop 
de  Geosbriand,  of  Burlington,  where  he  labored  as  a  zeaUius  mis- 
sionary and  apostle  of  temperance,  till  his  death,  September  8th, 

1877. 

The  Right  Rev.  Richard  Gilmour,  already  known  as  an  active 
and  Z'-alons  priest,  devoted  to  the  cause  of  education,  was  conse- 
crated as  Bishop  of  Cleveland,  April  14th,  1872.  In  his  struggle 
to  save  Catholic  youth,  and  in  establishing  a  Catholic  paper — 
the  Universe — to  maintain  Catholic  interests,  Bisliop  Gilmour 
has  aroused  some  of  the  dormant  fanaiicism  to  lay  aside  its 
ordinary  mask  of  hvpocrisy  :  but  the  piogress  of  the  faith  has 
been  all  the  more  solid.  The  old  church  of  St.  Mary's  on  the 
Flats,  has  sixteen  other  churches  beside  it  in  the  City  of  Cleve- 
land ;  and  the  diocese,  in  1878,  had  no  less  than  two  hundred 
and  three  churches,  a  hundred  and  fifty-eight  priests,  seven  asy- 
lums with  nearly  five  hundred  orphans  rescued  from  ruin,  a  hun- 
dred and  ten  parish  schools,  with  twenty-two  thousand  pupils, 
out  of  a  Catholic  population  of  150,000.  Bishop  Gilmour  has 
aided  the  cause  of  education  also  by  the  preparation  of  an  excel- 
lent series  of  school  books. 

DIOCESE   OF   COLUMBUS,    1868. 

In  the  second  division  of  the  diocese  of  Cincinnati  a  See  was 
established  at  Columbus,  and  the  Rioht  Rev.  Sylvester  H.  Rose- 


IN   TUE    UNITED    STATES.  557 

crans,  Bishop  anxiliar  of  Cincinnati,  was  transferred  to  it,  Marcli 
3d,  1^G8.  The  diocese  extended  from  tlie  Ohio  to  the  Scioto 
in  the  west,  and  incUided  the  counties  of  Fianklin,  Delaware, 
and  Morrow.  The  capital  of  the  State,  where  Catholicity  was 
represented  by  three  churches,  a  convent  of  the  Sisters  of  the 
Good  Shepherd,  an  hospital  under  the  Franciscan  Sisters  of  the 
Poor,  anJ  a  convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Notie  Dame,  from  which 
the  religious  went  forth  to  direct  schools  with  more  than  a  thou- 
sand pupils,  was  thus  blessed  with  the  presence  of  a  bishop.  The 
diocese  could  show  more  than  forty  churches,  and  about  as 
many  clergymen,  and  as  many  thousand  people.  It  included 
St.  Joseph's,  with  iis  Dominican  couvent,  the  cradle  of  Catho- 
licity iu  Ohio. 

Down  to  the  year  1833  Columbus  had  no  Catholic  church  ;  a 
few  Catholics,  chiefly  German,  had  settled  near  the  town,  and, 
with  laborers  on  the  National  Road,  formed  the  first  congrega- 
tion. They  were  visited  from  time  to  time  by  Dominican  Fa- 
thers from  Somerset,  the  first  mass  being  said  at  the  Paul  Pry 
House  on  Water  street,  and  then  at  George  Shader's  on  Canal 
street.  On  the  15tli  of  May,  1833,  some  property  holders,  "  to 
promote  religion  and  toleration,  and  the  improvement  of  the 
town,"  deeded  to  the  little  Catholic  body  a  lot  on  Rich  and 
Fifth  streets,  subject  to  the  condition  that  a  church  should  be 
erected  within  five  years.  Under  the  impulse  of  Bishop  Purcell, 
during  a  visit  in  1836,  the  building  was  begun,  but  it  languished 
until  the  Rev.  H.  D.  Juncker,  in  August,  1837,  became  the  pastor, 
and  so  far  completed  it  as  to  celebrate  high  mass,  April  29ih, 
1838.  The  Rev.  Josue  M.Young  was  then  pastor.  But  the  Cath- 
olics had  soon  to  deplore  the  loss  of  their  vestments,  crucifix,  and 
altar  can<llestitks,  broken  or  carried  oft' by  some  fanatic. 

The  Rev.  William  Schonat  was  tiie  first  resident  priest,  and, 
finding  the  church  too  small,  he  erected  Holy  Cross  Church  on 
Rich  and  Fifth  streets,  a  solid  Gothic  church,  in  184:5.     In 


558  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

September,  1853,  Archbishop  Pnrcell  dedicated  St.  Patrick's 
Church.  Of  this  cougregation  Bi>hop  Rosccrans  had  assumed 
the  charo-e  before  his  translation  to  the  See  of  Cohmibus. 

St.  ^Shny's  Church  was  dedicated  soon  after  that  event,  and  tlie 
faithful,  securing  Naghten  Hall  as  a  chapel,  began  the  erectiv)n 
on  Broad  street  of  St.  Joseph's  Cathedral,  next  to  the  State 
House  the  most  substantial  and  imposing  edifice  in  the  capital  of 
Ohio. 

About  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the  See  the  Dominican 
Sisters,  whose  academy  at  Somerset  had  been  destroyed  by  fire, 
received  from  Theodore  Leonard  thirty  acres  of  land  near  the 
City  of  Columbus,  and  ten  thousand  dollars  toward  erecting  a 
suitable  building.  Mr.  Eugene  Mageveny  of  Memphis  added 
the  same  amount,  and  the  Sisters  erected  the  Academy  of  St. 
Mary's  of  the  Springs. 

In  1871,  the  bishop  purchased  land  and  buildings  on  West 
Broad  street,  where  St.  Aloysius's  Seminary  for  Young  Men  was 
opened. 

The  Franciscan  Sisters  of  the  Poor,  founded,  in  1840,  at  Aix- 
la-Chapelle,  by  Mother  Frances  Shevier,  began  their  hospital  in 
Columbus,  in  1840,  but,  in  1865,  acquired  part  of  the  large 
edifice  known  as  the  Starling  Medical  College,  whose  faculty 
attend  the  sick  gratuitously. 

Within  the  ten  years  of  his  administration  Bishop  Rosecrans 
has  nearly  doubled  the  number  of  his  churches,  and  has  twenty- 
six  parochial  schools,  containing  nearly  five  thousand  Catholic 
children.  The  development  of  academies  has  made  ample  pro- 
vision for  the  higher  education  of  young  ladies.  The  increase 
of  the  faithful  has  not  been  as  great,  in  proportion,  as  that  of 
the  churches,  so  that  the  wants  of  the  faithful  have  been  more 
adequately  supplied. 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  559 


CHAPTER     XXXIV. 

STATE  OF   INDIANA. 


Diocese  op  ViNCEimES,  1834.-Early  History-Eight  Rev.  Simon  G.  Brute,  D.D.— Right 
Rev.  Celestine  de  la  Hailandiere,  D.D.— Riglit  Rev.  John  S.  Bazin,  D.D.— Right  Rev. 
J.  M.  Maurice  de  St.  Palais,  D.D. -Right  Rev.  Francis  S.  Cliatard,  D.D. 

Diocese  of  Fort  Wayne,  1857.— Right  Rev.  John  Henry  Luers,  D.D.— Rigl-t  Rev. 
Joseph  Dwenger,  D.D. 

A  French  post  was  cstablislied  on  the  Wabash  about  the 
year  1730,  by  Bissot,  Sieur  de  Viucennes,  which,  after  his  death 
in  the  Chickasaw  wai',  assumed  his  iiauie  and  lias  since  retained 
it.  Here,  in  1749,  Father  Sebastian  Louis  Meurin,  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Jesus,  founded  the  church  and  mission  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  reviving,  as  some  suppose,  a  temporary  mission  of 
Fatlier  Mermet  about  1710. 

Father  Meurin  was  succeeded  by  Father  T-ouis  Yivier  and 
Father  Julieu  de  Verney,  who  continued  to  minister  to  the 
French  and  Indians  there  till  the  fall  of  Canada,  and  the  almost 
simultaneous  suppression  of  the  Jesuits. 

At  Fort  Ouiatenon,  near  the  present  Lafayette,  was,  it  is  in- 
ferred,'another  Jesuit  mission  under  Father  Pierre  du  Jaunay. 
This  shared  the  fate  of  that  of  Vincennes,  which  was  without  a 
priest  for  six  years  till,  in  1769,  the  Rev.  Peter  Gibault,  sent  by 
Bishop  Briand  of  Quebec  to  look  after  that  remote  part  of  his 
flock,  wintered  there,  and  commenced  his  arduous  labors  in  the 
west,  extending  his  visits  beyond  the  Mississippi.  When  the 
Colonies  declared  their  independence,  Ptcv.  Mr.  Gibanlt  induced 
the  French  in  the  west  to  join  General  Clark,  and  thus  secured 
that  part  of  the  country  to  the  United  States.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Gibault  resided  sometimes  at  Vincennes  and  occasionally  at 
other  missions.  He  was  assisted  for  a  time  by  a  Rev.  Mr.  Paget, 
and  finally  withdrew  on  the  11th  of  October,  1789. 


560  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

The  Rev.  Benedict  J.  Flaget  was  sent  to  revive  the  faith  of 
these  scattered  Cathclics  in  1792.  This  first  mission  of  the 
future  Bishop  of  Bardstovvn  extended  to  April,  1795.  The  Rev, 
Mr.  llivet  ihtm  ministered  to  the  French  and  Indians  and  oc- 
casional Irish  Catholics,  till  his  death  in  1804,  and  in  1799 
opened  the  first  school.  His  services  in  restraining  the  Indians 
were  highly  esteemed  by  the  Government  and  the  people.  The 
Rev,  Mr.  Oliver,  then  stationed  near  the  Mississippi,  visited  Vin- 
cennes  occasionally. 

Indiana  had  meanwhile  fallen  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Bishop 
Flaget,  and,  in  1812,  his  old  flock  earnestly  implored  him  to  give 
them  a  resident  priest.  He  visited  them  in  1814,  and  remained 
several  weeks,  irstructing,  hearing  confessions,  baptizino-^  mar- 
rying, and  on  the  5th  of  June  for  the  first  time  administered  the 
sacrament  of  confirmation.  He  made  a  second  visit  on  his  way 
back  from  the  Mississippi,  for  the  benefit  of  the  hundred  and 
twenty  Catholic  families  there. 

Visits  were  now  frequently  made  to  Yincennes  by  priests  from 
Ohio  and  Kentucky ;  but  on  the  6th  of  May,  1834,  Pope 
Gregory  XYI,  erected  Yincennes  into  an  episcopal  see,  and  the 
Rev.  Simon  Gabriel  Brute  was  appointed  bishop.  He  was  con- 
secrated at  Bardstown,  October  26th,  1834.  The  diocese  em- 
braced the  State  of  Indiana  and  Western  Illinois,  the  western 
bound  being  a  line  from  Fort  Massac  along  the  eastern  limit 
of  Johnson,  Franklin,  Jeff"erson,  Marion,  Fayette,  Shelby,  and 
Macon  counties  to  the  Illinois  River,  and  then  to  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  State. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Picot  was  priest  in  Yincennes,  and  the  Sisters 
of  Charity  from  Nazareth  had  founded  St.  Clare's  convent,  but 
withdrew  before  the  bishop's  arrival.  His  diocese  had  at  Yin- 
cennes a  plain  brick  church,  unplastered  within,  without  sanc- 
tuary or  sacristy.  There  Avas  scarcely  another  church  in  the 
diocese,  and  only  three  priests,  one  of  whom,  Rev.  Mr.  St.  Cyr, 


i:n"  the  uin'ited  states.  5G1 

at  Chicago,  belonged  to  St.  Louis.  St.  Peter's  and  St.  Mary's 
churches  in  Davies  County  were  under  the  Kev.  S.  P.  Lahi- 
miere,  and  St,  Paul  s  in  New  Alsace  under  Rev.  Mi'.  Feine- 
ding. 

Bishop  Brute,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  in  ourCliurch 
history,  identitled  with  Mount  St.  Mary's  and  the  Sisters  ot 
Charity,  was  placed  in  a  position  \\here  all  was  to  be  done.  Ho 
a<idressed  a  pastoral  to  his  flock  and  put  liishand  lo  the  plougli. 
While  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lalumierc  look  one  direction  the  bishop 
took  another,  to  explore  the  diocese,  find  out  wliat  Catholics 
there  were,  and  what  could  be  done  ftir  them.  He  visiied 
Edgar  County,  Illinois,  confirmed  at  Chicago,  then  reached  the 
Catholic  Indians  under  Chikakos  on  the  Ti})p(  canoe  and  pre- 
pared to  erect  a  cliurch,  said  mass  at  Logansport  where  tliey 
wanted  a  priest,  ibund  twenty  catholics  at  Terre  Haute.  Tlie 
Rev.  Mr.  Lalumii-re,  the  bishop  says,  found  more  Catholics  than 
he  did.  At  Fort  Wayne  they  were  building  a  cl;urcli,  and 
hither  he  sent  tlie  Rev.  Mr.  RufF,  who  had  just  been  oi'dained 
for  his  dioce>e.  He  began  to  complete  his  cathedral,  recalled 
the  Sisters  of  Charity,  and  then  went  to  Europe  to  appeal  to 
the  charity  of  the  old  woild.  With  the  resources  he  there  ob- 
tained lie  established  a  diocesan  seminary,  an  or[)han  asylum, 
and  free  schools  at  Vincennes,  completed  his  cathedral,  and 
aided    in    the    erection  of  a  number    of  small  churches.      He 

^brouglit  twenty  priests  and   seminarians  from  Europe  with  him  ; 

'■  and,tliougli  his  h<'alth  began  to  fail,  performed  all  the  duties  of 
a  laborious  missionary,  bishop,  and  professor.  But  he  Avas  not 
long  to  be  spared  to  his  diocese;  engaged  in  his  manifold  duties 
to  the  last  moment,  dictating  on  his  death-bed  touchiiig  letteis 
to  those  who  had  fallen  from  the  faith,  he  expired  June  26ih, 
1830,  and  was  laid,  amid  the  general  grief,  beneath  his  cathedral. 
His  few  churches  had  increased  to  twenty-three,  and  six  more 
were  rising;  twenty-four  priests  were  engaged  in  the  ministry ; 


562  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

tlie  seminary  and  college  nnder  the  Eudists  were  full  of  promise  ; 
the  Sisters  of  Charity  iiad  an  academy  and  free  schools. 

IJis  Vicar-General,  Celcstine  dc  la  Hailandiere,  selected  by  the 
Pope  to  succeed  him,  was  consecrated  at  Paris,  Ano-ust  18th, 
1839,  by  Dr.  Forbin  Janson,  Bishop  of  Nancy.  The  new  bishop 
endowed  the  diocese  with  two  important  communities.  One  was 
the  Fathers  of  the  Holy  Cross,  with  the  Brothers  of  St.  Joseph, 
to  whom  he  confided  Ste.  Marie  des  Lacs,  a  log  ehapel  erected 
by  Picv.  S.  T,  Bad  in,  on  property  purchased  by  him,  and 
where  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Deseille  and  Petit  labored  among  the 
Indians.  The  Rev,  E.  Sorin  had,  in  18-11,  brought  over  from 
Mans  some  Biothers,  and  founded  St.  Peter's,  an  establishment 
near  Vincennes.  He  proceeded  to  Ste.  Marie  in  November, 
1843,  and  there  founded  Notre  Dame,  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
St.  Joseph's  River.  A  church,  college,  and  manualdabor  school 
were  soon  erected.  A  community  of  Sisters,  under  the  same 
rule,  soon  arrived  from  France,  and  established  a  convent  and 
academy.  These  various  bodies  have  been  blessed  with  a  won- 
derful increase.  The  university  is  one  of  the  most  flourishing  in 
the  country;  and  the  Fathers,  with  their  zealous  coadjutors,  have 
spread  to  several  dioceses,  as  the  Sisters  have  done,  especially  in 
the  direction  of  parochial  schools. 

The  other  cominunit}'  was  that  of  the  Sisters  of  Providence, 
who,  in  1840,  founded  a  convent  at  St.  Mary's  in  the  Woods, 
near  Terre  Haute. 

The  year  1844  was  a  sad  one.  Catholicity  had  to  endure  a 
new  and  terrible  trial.  In  the  East  the  mob,  led  by  designing 
men,  had  destroyed  Catholic  churches  and  institutions  openly  ; 
and  misguided  indiv'dunls  had  by  stealth  applied  the  incendiary 
torch,  almost  unrebuked  by  popular  judgment ;  and  nowhere 
had  the  voice  of  the  Protestant  ministry  been  raised  to  impress 
on  their  ignorant  followers  that  such  acts  of  violence  against  their 
fellow  citizens  were  grievous  sins.     In  the  West  the  persecution 


IN"  THE    UNITED   STATES.  563 

took  a  new  form.  An  exemplary  priest,  Romain  "VVeinzaepflein, 
of  Evausville,  Indiana,  was  arrested  and  tried  for  an  outrage 
on  a  married  woman  named  SclimoU.  The  statements  of  the 
complainant  were  unsupported  and  seh-contradictory  ;  but  the 
judge  and  jury,  if  they  did  not  investigate  the  whole  charge, 
went  into  the  case  with  the  clear  intent  of  convicting  the  priest, 
and  they  did  convict  him.  lie  was  sentenced  to  the  peniicn- 
tiary  for  five  years.  Before  many  mouths  proof  nccumulated 
that  the  accuser  was  a  woman  notorious  for  her  infamous  life; 
some  of  those  foremost  in  compassing  the  wicked  verdict  were 
filled  with  compunction,  and  united  in  petitioning  the  governor 
to  release,  in  the  only  way  he  could — by  j^ardou — the  victim  of 
their  bigotry.  Thoroughly  convinced  of  his  innocence,  the  gov- 
ernor opened  his  prison  doors. 

The  diocese,  in  1844,  was  restricted  to  the  State  of  Indiana, 
the  Illinois  portion  being  assigned  to  the  new  See  of  Chicago. 
Bishop  de  la  Hailandiere  resigned  his  See  in  1847,  having  nearly 
doubled  the  number  of  his  priests  and  churches. 

At  the  request  of  the  fathers  of  the  Sixth  Provincial  Council 
of  Baltimore,  the  Rev.  John  S.  Bazin  was  then  appointed,  and 
consecrated  at  Yincennes,  October  24th,  1847.  As  a  missionary 
priest,  at  Mobile,  he  had  evinced  most  remarkable  qualities,  and 
great  hopes  were  entertained  of  his  success  in  his  new  position  ; 
but  he  died  after  a  few  days'  illness,  April  23d,  1818. 

The  diocese  was  then  administei'ed  by  the  Very  Rev.  James 
Mary  Maurice  de  Saint  Palais,  who  was  consecrated  bishop  on 
the  14th  of  January,  1849.  He  was  born  near  Tours,  in  1811,  and 
had  been  educated  at  St.  Sulpice,  Paris,  but,  after  his  ordination, 
came  to  Vincennes  to  labor  in  the  American  mission.  He  was 
fully  acquainted  with  the  diocese  and  its  wants,  and  exerted  him- 
self to  do  all  in  his  power  for  his  flock.  The  Benedictine 
Fathers,  from  Einsiedeln,  encouraged  by  him,  founded  their 
monastery  at  St.  Meiurad's,  which  has  now  grown  to  be  one  of  our 


564  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

great  abbeys.  He  also  introduced  the  Brotlicrs  of  the  Christian 
Doctrine,  and  the  Sisters  of  the  Third  Older  of  St.  Franc-is,  who 
established  a  convent  at  Oldenburg.  The  increase  of  the  faiili- 
ful  was  such  that,  in  185G,  he  solicited  a  division  of  the  diocese, 
and  a  new  Sec  w^ns  erected  at  Fort  Wayne,  in  January  of  the 
following  year.  Tlie  Diocese  of  Vincennes  has  since  included 
the  part  of  Indiana  lying  south  of  Fountain,  Montgomery,  Boone, 
Hamilton,  IMadison,  Delaware,  Randolph,  and  Warren  coun- 
ties. It  contained  an  e:'clesinstical  seminary,  a  Benedictine  mon- 
astery, a  community  of  Brothers,  a  convent  of  Sisters  of  Provi- 
dence, directing  eleven  academies  and  schools;  Tertiary  Sisters 
of  St.  Francis,  with  a  convent  at  Oldenburg,  and  three  depen- 
dent schools,  seventy-eight  churches,  and  forty-two  priests.  He 
lived  to  see  great  progress.  The  Fianciscan  Fathers  founded 
thriving  convents  at  Oldenburg  and  Indianapolis;  the  Capuchins 
opened  a  lyceura  at  Terre  Haute;  the  Brothers  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  bggan  to  direct  schools  for  boys,  establishing  a  novitiate 
to  provide  for  future  wants ;  the  Sisters  of  Providence  and  of 
St.  Fraucis  extended  their  fields  of  labor;  Benedictine  and  Ur- 
suline  Nuns  came  to  direct  academies  and  fiee  schools;  the  Sis- 
ters of  the  Good  Shepherd  and  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor,  at 
Indianapolis,  pursued  their  wonderful  works  of  mercy  ;  Evans- 
ville  had  a  hospital  under  the  Sisters  of  Charity;  and  priests 
and  churches  had  more  than  doubled  in  number,  when  the  good 
bishop,  while  at  St.  Mary's  of  the  Woods,  June  28th,  1877,  was 
suddenly  stricken  down  by  disease,  and  died  among  the  pi'iests 
and  religious  who,  like  him,  had  labored  for  the  glory  of  God. 
The  Very  Rev.  Auguste  Bessonies  became  administrator  of  the 
diocese. 

The  Holy  Father  Pope  Leo  XIII.  appointed,  as  fifth  bishop 
of  Vincennes,  Dr.  Francis  Silas  Chatard,  a  native  of  Baltimore, 
who  had  for  several  years  been  Rector  of  the  American  College 
at  Rome.     He  was  consecrated  May  12th,  1S78,  and,  on  pro- 


I2n'  the  uxited  states.  565 

ceeiling  to  his  diocese,  took  up  his  residence  at  Indianapolis,  tlic 
capital  of  the  State,  where  there  were  already  five  churches  and 
as  many  chapels. 

DIOCESE    OF    rOIlT   WAYNE,    1857. 

^Yhen  the  See  of  Fort  Wayne  was  erected,  the  Rev,  John 
Henry  Liiers  was  appointed  the  first  bishop.  He  was  born  at 
Milnster,  Germany,  September  29th,  1819,  and  came  to  this 
country  in  his  fourteenth  year.  He  was  educated  by  the  Laz- 
arists,  and  ordaine  1  November  11th,  184G.  From  that  time  he 
had  been  a  laborious  missionary  in  the  Diocese  of  Cincinnati  till 
his  promotion.     He  was  consecrated  January  10th,  1858. 

Fort  Wayne  had,  in  the  last  century,  under  ihc  name  of 
Kiskakon,  been  a  French  post  at  the  junction  of  the  St.  Mary's 
and  St.  Joseph's  rivers.  A  priest  was  there  in  1749,  and  the 
very  names  of  the  streams  indicate  an  earlier  presence.  Bishop 
Lners  found  on  the  spot  a  small  frame  church  in  poor  condition, 
with  a  suitable  residence  ;  but  in  the  whole  diocese  there  were 
only  twenty  churches,  most  of  them  very  poor,  eleven  secular 
priests,  and  three  Fathers  of  the  Holy  Cross.  To  begin  a  catlic- 
dral,  to  stimulate  his  flock  to  erect  suitable  churches,  to  obtain 
more  priests,  were  the  great  tasks  before  him.  In  1859  the 
corner-stone  of  a  fine  Gothic  cathedral  was  laid  by  Archbishop 
Purcell,  and,  by  the  energy  of  the  bi>hop,  the  building  was 
completed  before  the  close  of  the  year.  This  aroused  the  zeal 
of  Catholics  in  other  parts,  who  at  once  began  to  erect  churches 
worthy  of  them.  The  bishop  was  unwearied  in  his  visitations, 
convened  his  clergy  biennially,  and  was  ever  ready  to  encourage 
them.  In  1804  he  visited  Rome,  and  was  commi>sioned  by  the 
Holy  S'.'C  to  diaw  up  a  constitution  and  rules  for  the  Sisters  of 
the  Holy  Cross,  who  were  detached  tVom  the  order  in  France. 

The  Fathers  of  the  Holy  Cross  meanwhile  inci'eased  in  num- 
ber; the  Sisters  of  Providence  opened  a  house  at  Fort  Wayne  ; 


5G6  THE   CATHOLIC    CHUKCH 

the  Sisters  of  Precious  Blood  in  Jay  County.  Bishop  Luers  was 
untiring  in  his  exertions  for  the  good  of  his  diocese  ;  and,  over- 
come by  his  apostolic  hibors,  he  died  June  28th,  1871,  from  a 
stroke  received  while  in  the  street,  after  having  conferred  holy 
orders  in  the  morning. 

The  Right  Rev.  Joseph  Dwenger,  appointed  by  Pope  Pius 
IX.  to  the  See  of  Fort  Wayne,  was  consecrated  April  1-itli,  1872, 
and  has  since  governed  tlie  diocese.  The  growth  of  Catholicity 
has  been  remarkable.  The  diocese  contains  now  about  80,000 
Catholics,  with  a  hundred  and  eight  churches,  exclusive  of  those 
still  in  course  of  erection  ;  there  are  sixty-six  secular  priests, 
thirty-one  regulars;  a  university  which  has  already  celebrated 
its  silver  jubilee,  seventeen  academies,  fifty-three  parish  schools, 
with  hospitals,  orphan  asylums,  retreats  for  the  aged. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

STATE   OF  ILLINOIS. 

Diocese  of  Chicago,  1844— Early  History— French  and  Indian  Missions  under  Bishops 
of  Quebec— Fathers  Marquette  and  Allouez— Priests  of  Seminary  of  Quebec— Rev. 
Dominic  Varlet— Sale  of  Churches— Diocese  of  Baltimore— Under  Bishop  Flagct- 
Vincenues  and  St.  Louis— A  See  Erected— Faght  Rev.  William  Quarter,  D.D.,  first 
Bishop— Eight  Rev.  James  O.  Yaudevelde,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  Anthony  O'Regan,  D.D.— 
Right  Rev.  James  Duggan,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  Thomas  Foley,  D.D. 

Diocese  of  Quixcy,  IS33 — Diocese  of  Alton,  1837- Right  Rev.  H.  D.  Juncker, 
D.D.-Right  Rev.  Peter  Joseph  Baltes,  D.D. 

Diocese  of  Peouia,  l  S7T— Right  Rev.  James  L.  Spalding,  D.D. 

Catholicity  in  Illinois  dates  from  the  day  when  Father 
]\rarquette,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  in  the  first  voyage  down 
the  Mississippi,  in  the  summer  of  1G73,  sailed  along  its  shores, 
and  returning  entered  the  Illinois  River,  which  he  nnmed,  and, 
traversing  the  State,  preached  the  faith  to  the  Kaskaskias,  in 
the  town  they  then  occupied  on  the  upper  waters  of  that  river, 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  567 

near  the  present  Utica.  Returning  to  them,  in  1674,  ill  li<'altli 
forced  hill?  to  winter  at  Chicago,  where  his  cabin  was  the  first 
cliipel  oftlie  future  city  and  State.  He  renewed  his  mission  at 
old  Ka-kaskia,  leaving  it  only  to  die  on  his  way  to  Michiliniacki- 
nac.      Fatlier  AUouez  lonewed  the  mission  in  1G76. 

Two  years  later,  in  December,  1678,  La  Salle's  party  entered 
Illinois,  and,  in  the  following  January,  the  Recollect  Fathers 
who  accompanied  him  —Fathers  Zenobius  IMeinbre,  Louis  Hen- 
nepin, and  Gabriel  de  la  Ribonrde — set  up  their  bark  ciiapcl  in 
the  great  Illinois  village  near  the  present  Starved  Rock  ;  but  the 
venerable  Father  Ribonrde  was  soon  killed  by  straggling  Kika- 
poos,  near  Crow  Creek,  as  the  party  were  retreating  to  Green 
Bay  ;  Father  Hennepin  liad  gone  oft"  to  explore  the  Upper  Mis- 
sissippi, and  Illinois  was  left  without  a  missionary  till  the  return 
of  Allouezin  168L 

Father  James  Gravier,  in  1688,  was  missionary  to  the  Illinois, 
the  real  tbunder  of  the  church,  his  parochial  register  existing  to 
this  day,  the  oldest  record  of  the  State.  Fathers  Rale,  Binne- 
leau,  Pinet,  and  others,  labored  in  the  same  field,  among  the 
Kaskaskias,  Pcorias,  Tainaroas,  and  Cahokias.  In  1698,  the 
Bishop  of  Quebec  established  a  mission  of  secular  priests  for  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  and,  in  July  of  that  year,  the  Rev.  Francis  J. 
j\Iontigny,  with  the  Rev.  Messrs.  St.  Cosme  and  Davion,  set  out 
from  Quebec.  These  clergymen  soon  after  took  the  Tamaroa 
and  Cahokia  mission.  The  Rev.  John  Bergier,  the  first  secular 
priest,  labored  here  from  about  1700  to  his  deatli,  some  ten 
years  later.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Dominic  Mary  Var- 
let,  who.  raised  to  the  episcopate  as  Bishop  of  Babylon,  in  1718, 
joiiT'd  the  Jansenists,  and  helped  tofoimd  the  sehismatical  church 
at  Utrecht.  Better  priests  followed.  A  grant  of  four  leagues 
square  was  made  to  this  mission  in  1722.  While  the  Jesuits 
devoted  themselves  to  the  Indians,  the  secular  priests  ministered 
to  the  French  at  St.  Ann's  Church,  Fort  Chartres,  St.  Joseph's 


568  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

at  Prairie  du  Roclier,  and  the  other  villages  which  had  growr^ 
up.  This  continued  till  the  fall  of  the  French  power.  When 
the  Quebec  priests  withdrew,  a  diabolical  order  from  Louisiann, 
after  the  suppression  of  the  Jesuit:^,  ordered  their  property  to  be 
seized  and  sold,  and  their  chapels  razed  to  the  ground,  the  anli- 
Christian  spirit  of  the  French  Revolution  showing-  itself  iu  ad- 
vance, in  thus  depriving  the  Catholics  of  Illinois  of  a  place  to 
worship  God,  or  the  sacred  articles  for  the  holy  sacrifice.  The 
sale  was  actually  made  of  the  church  property,  though  entirely 
illegal,  because  the  province  had  been  ceded  to  England,  and 
the  French  Government  no  longer  had  authority. 

Father  Meurin,  the  last  of  the  Jesuits,  went  to  the  Spanish 
side  of  the  river,  but,  before  long,  fled  for  safety  to  Illinois,  where 
he  remained  till  his  death,  ministering  to  such  of  the  French  as 
had  remained.  The  Bishop  of  Quebec  sent  two  Recollect  Fathers, 
Hippolyte  and  Luke  Collet.  The  latter  labored  here  till  his 
death,  in  17G5,  at  Foi  t  Chartres.  The  Rev.  Peter  Gibault  then 
became  the  priest  of  Kaskaskin,  and  aided  in  giving  the  West 
to  the  United  States.  He  obtained  a  grant  of  land  from  the 
new  Government,  and  labored  to  keep  religion  alive. 

The  list  of  Illinois  priests,  regular  and  secular,  from  Marquette 
to  Gibault,  is  a  long  and,  with  one  exception,  an  honorable  one : 
Giavier  and  Ribourde  dying  by  the  hand  of  the  savage,  Doutre- 
leau  barely  escaping  with  life,  Binneteau,  Bergier,  Pinet  dying 
in  their  ministry.  The  district  was  now  to  pass  from  under  the 
juiisdiction  of  the  bishops  of  Quebec.  The  bull  of  Pope  Fins 
VI.,  erecting  the  See  of  Baltimt^e,  inclnded  the  Illinois  country 
within  the  limits  of  the  diocese,  and  Bishop  Carroll  recognized 
tli^^  Rev.  Mr.  Gibault  as  a  priest  of  his  new  bishopric.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  de  St.  Pierre  was  soon  aiding  him  ;  the  eccentric  Mr.  de  la 
Valiniere  was  sent  by  Dr.  Carroll  with  powers  as  Vic  ir-General, 
but  his  stay  was  short  and  troubled.  The  venerable  Rev.  Gabriel 
Richard  was  pastor  in  Illinois  from  1793  to  1799;  the  Rev. 


IX   THE    UNITED   STATES.  569 

Donation  Olivier  followed  him.  The  first  Kaskasliia  church 
was  replaced,  iu  171  i,  by  a  fine  one  of  stone;  this  lasted  till 
1774,  when  it  became  unsafe  ;  the  third  chinch,  erected  in  1775, 
was  still  finer,  and  Lasted  till  1838.  The  bell  of  tlie  second 
church,  cast  in  17*11,  the  gift  of  Louis  XV.  to  his  Illitiois  sub- 
ject^, is  still  preserved. 

By  the  treaty  with  the  Kaskaskia  Indians,  th.e  United  States, 
in  1803,  recognizing  the  Illinois  Indians  as  Catholics,  agreed  to 
pay  a  Catholic  priest  a  hundred  dollars  a  year  for  seven  years  ; 
and  to  give  the  Indians  three  hundred  dollars  toward  erecting 
a  church. 

When  the  See  of  Bardstown  was  erected,  in  1808,  Illinois 
came  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Bisliop  Flaget.  In  his  fiist  visi- 
tation of  Illinois  he  confirmed,  in  June,  1814,  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  at  Cahokia,  where  the  Hev.  Mr.  Savine  was  pastor;  in 
September  he  confirmed  one  hundred  and  ten  at  Kaskaskia  ;  and 
in  August,  at  Prairie  du  Rocher,  the  parish  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Olivier,  confirmed  sixty -five;  and  in  November,  at  Kaskaskia, 
thirty-six  more. 

Bishop  Flaget,  with  limited  resources,  and  few  pries^ts,  and 
overtaxed  with  the  cares  of  what  was  especially  his  own  diocese, 
could  do  little  for  Illinois.  The  tide  of  emigration  invaded  the 
State ;  the  Indians  were  removed  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and 
the  French  element  dwindled  away.  The  old  church  property 
w^as  lost  sight  of,  and  much  of  it  occupied  by  new  settlers  and 
lost. 

When  the  See  of  Yincennes  was  established.  Eastern  Illinois 
formed  part  of  the  diocese,  but  there  was  only  one  priest  in  it, 
the  Rev.  J.  M.  J.  St.  Cyr,  a  priest  subject  to  the  Bislioo  of  St. 
Louis. 

The  Diocese  of  New  Orleans,  divided  in  1827,  and  the  new 
diocese  of  St.  Louis  tlien  erected,  embraced  Western  Illinois, 
about  two-thirds  of  the  State. 


570  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Bishop  Rosati,  of  St.  Louis,  did  all  in  his  power  to  aid  the 
Illinois  Catholics  ;  and,  in  1833,  a  colony  of  nine  Visitation 
Nuns  from  Georgetown,  D.  C,  established  a  convent  of  their 
order  in  Kaskaskia,  where  they  remained,  in  a  building  still 
standing,  till,  alarmed  by  the  encroachments  of  the  war,  they 
removed  to  St.  Louis.  In  1836,  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  began 
their  first  American  institution  at  Cahokia. 

"  Scarcely  thirty  years  ago,"  said  an  Illinois  pastor  in  1869, 
"  Chicago  was  a  mere  trading-post,  with  half  a  dozen  families 
clustered  around  Fort  Dearborn.  Among  these  families  was 
one  French,  one  Spanish,  both  of  good  descent,  both  Catholic. 
The  first  church  in  Chicago,  and  that  ;a  Catholic  one,  rose  on 
the  corner  of  what  is  now  Wabash  avenue  and  Madison  street." 
Chicago,  in  1836,  had  a  resident  priest ;  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia, 
and  Prairie  du  Rocher  had  their  churches;  a  new  one,  St.  Pat- 
rick's, indicative  of  a  new  race,  had  arisen  at  CHara'sburg ; 
churches,  too,  at  the  Eiiglish  settlement,  Harrisonville,  Sangamon 
County,  and  Fever  River  Mines  ;  and  about  twelve  places  were 
regularly  visited.  St.  Raphael's,  at  Dubuque  Mines,  was  erected 
by  Father  S.  Mazzuchelii  in  the  following  year.  Priests  of  the 
Mission  soon  after  had  charge  of  La  Salle,  Peoria,  and  Spring- 
field. 

But  the  growth  was  slow.  It  was  evident  that  a  centre  was 
needed  around  which  religious  institutions  would  cluster.  The 
Provincial  Council  of  Baltimore,  in  1843,  recommended  the 
erection  of  a  See  at  Chicago,  and  the  Holy  Father,  Pope  Greg- 
ory XVI.,  in  pursuance  of  the  wish  expressed,  formed  the  n(^w 
Diocese  of  Chicago,  embiacing  the  State  of  Illinois.  The  Rev. 
William  Quarter,  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  New  York,  was  ap- 
pointed bishop,  and  consecrated  March  10th,  1811. 

On  reaching  Chicago  he  found  one  church — a  long,  low  frame 
building — with  a  modest  steeple  and  bell ;  a  new  brick  church, 
uuplastered,  with  a  temporary  altar,  rough  board  doors,  and  a 


IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.  571 

debt  of  five  thousand  dollars.  With  his  own  and  his  brother's 
means  the  debt  was  paid  oti',  and  steps  taken  to  arouse  the  zeal 
of  the  faithful  to  eunipiete  the  church,  lie  at  once  proj^-cted 
the  openiijg  ot'  a  collej^e  and  seminary  ;  but  he  was  met  by  a 
terrible  want  of  priests.  Prior  to  his  arrival  twenty-three  priests 
had  been  laboring  in  Illinois;  eight  of  these  belonging  to  the 
Diocese  of  Vincennes  were  at  once  recalled,  and  the  new  bishop 
in  vain  appealed  for  their  continuance  until  he  could  find  sub- 
stitutes. The  convents  had  removed  from  Illinois,  and  the  con- 
dition of  the  diocese  was  sad  indeed. 

He  obtained  from  the  Legislature  a  charter  for  the  University 
of  St.  Mary's  of  the  Lake ;  and  one  enabling  the  Bishop  of  Chi- 
cngo,  and  his  successors,  to  hold  property  in  trust  for  the  Cath- 
olic Church.  He  soon  after  visited  New  York  to  collect  means 
and  secure  priests. 

He  completed  his  cathedral,  established  his  college  and  sem- 
inar v,  and,  on  the  10th  of  March,  1846,  erected  St.  Patrick's 
Church,  Chicago ;  two  German  churches,  St.  Peter's  and  St, 
Joseph's,  were  also  added.  In  September,  1840,  he  received  a 
colonv  of  Sisters  of  Mercy,  whom  he  installed  in  the  house  which 
he  had  till  then  occupied.  Here  they  remained  till  he  completed 
an  edifice  suitable  for  an  academy.  The  increase  of  emigra- 
tion required  every  exertion,  and  Bishop  Quarter  erected  thirty 
schools,  ten  of  them  substantial  structures  of  brick  or  stone. 
Anxious  to  supply  priests  to  the  destitute  flocks,  he  obtained 
many  from  various  parts,  and  ordained  twenty-nine.  ^  But  his 
episcopate  was  short :  in  the  midst  of  his  labors  for  his  diocese 
he  died,  almost  suddenly,  April  10th,  1848. 

His  successor,  tlie  Right  Rev.  James  Oliver  Vandevelde,  was 
a  Father  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who  reluctantly  accepted  the 
mitre,  and  was  consecrated  February  11th,  1849,  in  the  Church 
of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  St.  Louis.  He  was  a  native  of  Belgium, 
and  one  of  the  band  of  young  men  whom  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nerinckx 


572  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

had  brought  over,  nnd  who  ultimately  became  the  nucleus  of 
the  Mis.ouri  Vice-Province  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  He' had 
been  eminent  as  a  missionary,  as  a  professor,  and  as  Presi- 
dent of  tlie  University  of  St.  Louis.  The  Diocese  of  Chicago 
had  not  yet  taken  a  form  and  Hfe  of  its  own.  The  clergy  liad 
been  hastily  gathered,  and  Bishop  Vandevelde  soon  found  that 
his  endeavors  in  the  cause  of  religion  would  be  thwarted  by  a 
want  of  harmony.  His  health  failed,  and  he  earnestly  besought 
the  Holy  See  to  allow  him  to  return  to  the  order  in  which  he 
had  spi'nt  so  many  years.  His  request  was  not  immediately 
granted,  and  he  continued  active  visitations  of  his  diocese,  in 
which,  during  the  four  years  of  his  stay  in  Illinois,  he  saw  many 
churches  begun,  with  other  institutions  greatly  needed  by  the 
faithful. 

In  1852,  the  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore  recommended  the 
erection  of  a  new  See  at  Quincy  ;  but  when  His  Holiness  Pope 
Pius  IX.  established  the  See,  the  Very  Rev.  Joseph  Melcher, 
appointed  as  bishop,  declined  to  accept  it,  with  the  administra- 
tion of  Chicago.  Bishop  Vandevelde  accordingly  continued  his 
labors  till  his  appointment  to  the  See  of  Natchez,  in  1853. 
Notwithstanding  all  contrarieties  Bishop  Vandevelde  left,  in  the 
Diocese  of  Chicago,  seventy  churches  built  or  in  progress,  forty- 
four  priests,  two  convents  and  academies  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy, 
one  colh^ge,  one  hospital,  three  asylums,  several  free  schools; 
and,  in  the  Diocese  of  Quincy,  fifty-one  churches,  twenty-four 
priests,  a  convent  at  Cahokia,  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  having, 
at  his  entreaty,  returned.  The  whole  Catholic  population  of  the 
State  was  estimated  at  about  92,000. 

During  the  vacancy  of  the  Sees  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Henni 
of  Milwaukee  was  administrator  of  Chicago,  and  the  Alost  Rev. 
Archbishop  Kenrick  of  St,  Louis  administrator  of  Quincy. 

The  Very  Rev.  Anthony  O'Rcgan,  Superior  of  the  Seminary 
at  Carondelet,  Missouri,  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Chicago,  and 


IN"   THE    UNITED    STATES.  573 

consecrated  July  25tli,  ISo-t,  the  Diocese  of  Quincy  being  con- 
fided to  him  as  administrator  till  the  installation  of  a  bishop 
into  that  See. 

Bishop  O'Regan  began  by  appointing  new  pastors  to  nearly 
all  the  city  churches  in  Chicago,  and  placing  an  entirely  new 
faculty  in  the  University  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Lake,  which  was 
soon  after  confided  to  the  Priests  of  the  Holy  Cross,  while  the 
l^rothers  and  Sisters  of  the  same  rule  took  charge  of  parochial 
schools. 

The  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  also  came  to  Chicago  to 
give  a  mission  at  St.  Mary's,  and  announced  their  intention  of 
settling  in  a  deserted,  scarcely  respectable  wild  on  the  skirts  of 
the  city.  A  small  building  was  secured  ;  a  magnificent  church  of 
the  Holy  Family  followed.  The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
opened  an  academy  not  far  ofif;  and  these  institutions  were  soon 
the  centre  of  well-built  houses. 

The  Sisters  of  Mercy  had,  meanwhile,  opened  the  Chicago 
Mercy  Hospital ;  and,  though  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  had 
again  forsaken  Cahokia,  Sisters  of  Charity  began  an  establish- 
ment in  the  Diocese  of  Quincy. 

Bishop  O'llegan,  however,  found  his  position  one  of  difficulty, 
and  soon  after  resigned  the  See  and  was  transferred  to  Dora. 
In  1857,  the  Right  Rev.  Clement  Smyth,  then  coadjutor  of 
Dubuque,  was  appointed  administrator  of  the  Diocese  of  Chi- 
cago, which  was  now  somewhat  reduced  in  extent,  the  See  of 
Quincy  having  been  transferred  to  Alton  and  the  diocese  en- 
larged, so  that  the  Diocese  of  Chicao-o  embraced  only  the  portion 
of  the  State  lying  north  of  Adams,  Brown,  Cass,, Menard,  San- 
gamon, Macon,  Moultrie,  Coles,  and  Edgar  counties.  | 

Soon  after  this  the  Right  Rev.  James  Duggan,  D.D.,  who 
had,  in  May,  1857,  been  consecrated  Bishop  of  Antigone,  in 
pcirtihus  infiddium,  and  coadjutor  to  the  Archbishop  of  St. 
Louis,  was  appointed   administrator,  and,  under  his  care,  the 


574  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

affairs  of  this  sorely-tried  diocese  began  to  wear  a  more  Lopeful 
aspect.  ^Yhen,  on  the  21st  of  January,  1859,  Bishop  Duggan 
was  transferred  to  the  See  of  Chicago,  the  great  work  to  be  done 
for  the  already  large  Catholic  population  seemed  about  to  be 
inaugurated  by  a  bishop,  sui^ported  in  all  good  ^YOlks  by  a 
zealous  body  of  priests. 

By  the  year  1870  the  Catholics  subject  to  the  Bishop  of  Chi- 
cago were  estimated  at  400,000.  The  diocese  contained  one 
hundred  and  forty-two  priests,  thirty  of  whom  belonged  to  re- 
ligious orders.  Besides  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name,  the 
city  of  Chicago  contained  twenty-five  churches:  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Family,  a  fine  edifice,  attended  by  a  number  of 
Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus;  St.  Michael's  for  the  Germans, 
directed  by  the  Redemptorist  Fathers ;  St.  Joseph's  by  the 
Benedictine  Monks;  the  churches  in  the  country  parts  num- 
bered one  hundred  and  seventy-five;  some  of  the  larger  towns, 
like  Joliet  and  Peoria,  having  three,  and  many  others  two  Catho- 
lic churches.  The  Jesuits  were  about  to  open  a  college  in  Chi- 
cago ;  the  Fathers  of  St.  Yiateur  already  had  one  in  operation 
at  Bourbonnais  Grove  ;  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools, 
not  inaptly,  had  made  La  Salle  the  seat  of  their  La  Salle  Aca- 
demy, with  an  academy  also  at  Chicago.  The  Alexian  Brothers, 
a  community  devoted  to  the  care  of  the  sick  and  the  Christian 
burial  of  the  dead,  had  established  a  fine  hospital  in  Chicago. 
The  teaching  communities  in  the  diocese  had  received  able  aux- 
iliaries in  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  who  had  now  a  flour- 
ishing seminary  in  the  city  ;  by  the  Si?tei-s  of  the  Congregation 
of  Notre  Dame,  from  the  Ven.  Margaret  Bourgeois'  community 
at  Montreal,  who  had  a  thriving  academy  at  Bonrboniiais  Grove  ; 
and  by  the  Sisters  of  Loretto  ;  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic,  Sisters  of 
St.  Francis,  and  Si^^ters  of  Charity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary. 

The  parochial  schools  had  attained  an  extraordinary  develop- 
ment, more  than  fifty  being  in   operation,  all   largely  attended. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  575 

and  well  conducted.  Tlic  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  hiid 
opened  a  Magdalen  Asylum  ;  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  had  just 
completed  a  new  hospital  at  Chicago,  at  a  cost  of  seventy  thou- 
sand dollars;  the  Sisters  of  Charity  had  an  hospital  also;  and 
there  were  besides  orphan  asylums,  and  an  industrial  and  reform 
school. 

Bishop  Duggan  was  compelled  to  retire  on  account  of  infirm 
health,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Thomas  Foley,  a  clergyman  of 
Baltimore,  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Pergamus,  in  partihus  in- 
fidelium,  and  Coadjutor  to  the  Bishop  of  Chicago.  lie  was 
consecrated  February  2'7th,  1870,  and  has  since  been  adminis- 
trator of  the  diocese. 

The  next  year  the  city  of  Chicago  was  visited  by  a  terrible 
conflagration,  such  as  never  before  had  been  witnessed  in  America. 
A  large  part  of  the  city  was  laid  in  ashes;  and,  as  the  flames 
swept  across  the  doomed  city,  Catholic  churches,  convents,  asy- 
lums, and  schools,  the  result  of  so  many  years'  struggle,  were  ut- 
terly destroyed.  The  Pro-Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name,  in  which 
more  than  ten  thousand  every  Sunday  joined  in  oflering  the 
Holy  Sacrifice,  with  the  episcopal  residence  adjoining ;  St. 
Michael's,  with  the  convent  of  the  Redemptorist  Fathers,  who 
attended  its  congregation  often  thousand  ;  St.  Joseph's  Church, 
of  a  flock  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  souls,  with  the  adjacent 
Benedictine  Priory ;  St.  Mary's,  the  oldest  church  of  any  denomi- 
nation in  the  city,  attended  by  four  thousand,  and  St.  Louis's, 
by  two  thousand  five  liundred,  with  their  rectories;  St.  Paul's 
Church ;  the  Convent  of  Mercy  and  House  of  Providence,  con- 
taining forty  inmates  ;  Convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  occu- 
pied by  twelve  sisters ;  Convent  of  St.  Joseph  by  eighteen  ;  the 
Beneilict  Convent  by  twenty-three;  the  Convent  of  the  Good 
Shepherd  by  twenty-four;  and  the  Magdalen  Asylum,  contain- 
ing one  hundred  and  two  inmates  ;  the  Convent  of  the  Domini- 
can Sisters  by  eight  religious ;  St^  Francis  Xavier's  Academy  and 


576  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

School  for  Girls,  having  one  luiiidred  and  sixty  boarding  and 
day  scholars;  St.  Joseph's  AcadL-my  ;  the  Clirisiiau  Brothers' 
College  ;  the  Cathedral  School,  attended  by  five  hundred  pupils; 
St.  Michael's  by  eleven  hundred  ;  St.  Joseph's  by  five  hundred 
aud  fifty  ;  the  Immaculate  Conce])tion  School  by  three  hundred  ; 
St.  Mary's  Schools  by  five  hundred;  an  Orphan  Asyluni,  shelter- 
ing two  hundred  helpless  children  ;  the  Alexis  Hospital,  under 
the  care  of  the  Alexian  Bi'others  ;  the  new  Hospital  erecting 
for  the  Sisters  of  Charily.  The  Union  Catholic  Tiibrary  Asso- 
ciation lost  its  collection  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  volumes, 
the  first  free  library  in  the  city. 

More  than  constituted  all  the  Catholic  church  property  in  the 
country  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  was  laid  in  ashes  in  a 
few  hours.  Religious  and  those  under  their  care  were  alike 
homeless.  Sisters  sought  to  repair  to  other  points  with  their 
charges  to  find  a  shelter  till  a  new  home  \vas  erected,  others  re- 
mained to  aid  the  sufferers.  Priests  hastened  to  lay  before  their 
fellow  laborers  in  the  vineyard,  and  prosperous  "docks  the  terri- 
ble wants  of  the  Catholics  of  Chicago.  The  relief  sent  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  was  great,  but  it  sometimes  fell  into  strange 
hands;  and  more  than  one  Catholic  priest  and  religious,  seeking 
only  transportation  to  diminish  distress  and  obtain  aid,  was  re- 
pulsed with  coarse  ruffianism  by  bigots  who  had  the  handling 
of  the  money  of  the  charitable. 

The  woik  of  repairing  all  these  losses  was  slow  ;  yet,  in  1878, 
all  the  burnt  churches  but  one  were  again  in  operation,  and 
eleven  new  churches  had  been  erected  within  the  limits  of  the 
city  of  Chicago,  which  numbered  no  fewer  than  thirty-three 
churches  with  six  chapels.  The  whole  diocese  numbered,  in 
1878,  one  hundred  and  ninety-two  churches,  although  the  Dio- 
cese of  Peoria  was  set  off  in  1877.  Even  thus  reduced  the 
Diocese  of  Chicago  had  a  hundred  and  ninety-nine  priests ;  a 
population   of   two  himdred  and  thirty  thousand ;    more    than 


IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.  577 

twenty-five  thousand  cliiklron  in  the  parochial  schools;  two 
colleges;  fourteen  academies  for  young  ladies;  three  hos- 
pitals ;  two  orphan  asyhuns,  one  under  the  German  order  of 
Poor  Handmaids  of  Jesns  Christ ;  a  Refoiin  School  for  Boys, 
under  the  Christian  Brothers,  and  chartered  by  tlic  Legis- 
lature ;  Industrial  Schools  for  Girls,  one  under  the  Servile  Sis- 
ters of  Mary  ;  a  House  of  Providence  for  Young  Women  ;  a 
Magdalen  Asylum  ;  a  Home  for  the  Aged,  directed  by  the  Little 
Sisters  of  the  Poor. 

DIOCESE   OF   QUINCY,   1S52. — ALTON,    1857. 

The  Diocese  of  Qnincy  was  established,  as  has  been  noted, 
in  1852,  and  was  administered  by  Bishops  Vandcvelde  and 
O'Hegan,  the  cleigymen  appointed  to  the  See  having  declined. 
In  1856  the  diocese  was  enlarged  and  the  See  transferred  to 
Alton,  by  a  decree  of  January  9th,  1857.  The  first  bishop  of 
this  new  See  was  the  Rev.  Henry  Damian  Juncker,  who  was 
consecrated  April  26lh,  1857. 

The  new  diocese  contained  the  oiil  historic  sites  of  Kaskaskia, 
Cahokia,  Prairie  cUi  Rocher,  and  embraced  the  counties  of 
Adams,  Brown,  Cass,  Menard,  •San2amon,  Macon,  Moultrie, 
Cole,  and  Edgar,  and  all  Illinois  south  of  them,  with  fifty 
cdinrclies  and  eighteen  priests. 

Dr.  Jimcker  was  a  native  of  Lorrain,  educated  from  his  youth 
in  tliis  country,  and,  from  1834,  when  he  was  ordained  by  Bishop 
Pnrcell,  an  active  missionary  in  the  Diocese  of  Cincinnati.  After 
a  visitation  of  his  diocese  to  ascertain,  as  nearly  as  possible,  its 
spiritual  condition  and  needs,  lie  went  to  Eurojie  to  seek  to 
supply  them.  He  prosecuted  actively  the  erection  of  a  fine  ca- 
tliedral,  which  was  dedicated  in  1859.  To  supply  clergy  for  his 
diocese  he  introduced  the  Franciscan  Fatheis,  who  founded  St. 
Teresa's  Convent  at  Tcutoi)olis,  with  St.  Joseph's  Ecclesiastical 
College,  and  subsequently  the  lieiidence,  and,  at  a  later  date,  the 


578  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

Colioge  of  St.  Francis  Solano  at  Quincy,  incorporated  May  19th, 
1873.  St.  Patrick's  College  was  also  Ibunded  at  O'liara's  Set- 
tlement; for  the  higher  education  of  young  ladies,  the  Ursuline 
Nuns  opened  St.  Joseph's  Convent  and  Academy  at  Springtield, 
and  the  Convent  of  the  Holy  Family  at  Alton.  The  Scliool 
Sisters  of  Notie  Dame  established  academies  at  Belleville  and 
Quincy,  and  assumed  the  direction  of  an  orphan  asylum  at  the 
latter  place;  the  Sisters  of  Loretto,  and  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph 
opened  academies,  and  the  Sisters  of  Charity  and  Franciscan 
Sisters  of  the  Poor  -were  placed  in  charge  of  hospitals. 

Tiie  churches  had  meanwhile  increased  to  one  hundred  and 
Iv/enty-three  ;  and  the  hundred  priests,  catclung  the  bishop's 
zeal  for  education,  had  fifty-six  parochial  schools,  in  which 
Brothers  of  the  Holy  Cioss,  Fianciscan  Brothers,  Ursuline 
Nuns,  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  and  of  Loretto,  with  secular 
teachers,  guided  the  young  in  the  safe  path  of  knowle<]ge,  con- 
trolled by  religious  principle. 

With  this  good  record  of  progress  made,  Bishop  Juncker, 
after  a  long  illness,  died  October  2d,  1868. 

The  Very  Rev.  P.  J.  Baltes,  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Belle- 
ville, became  administrator  during  the  vacancy  of  the  See,  and, 
having  been  appointed  bishop  by  His  Holiness  Pope  Pius  IX., 
September  24th,  1869,  was  consecrated  on  the  23d  of  January 
in  the  following  year.  Under  his  care  the  cause  of  religion  has 
advanced  :  the  Ursulines  have  founded  convents  and  academies 
at  Lit'-hiield  and  Decatur  ;  the  Franciscan  Sisters  of  the  Poor 
have  fi\'e  hospitals  ;  the  Sifters  of  the  Holy  Cross  another  at 
Cairo;  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  Sisters  of  the  Precious  Blood,  and 
Sisters  of  St.  Dominic  opened  academies.  Nearly  all  these  orders, 
with  the  Poor  Handmaids  of  Christ,  joining  in  the  great  work 
of  the  parochial  schods,  so  that,  in  1878,  the  diocese,  witli  a 
po;)ulati()n  of  100,000,  though  ihe  churches  had  with  wonder- 
ful rapidity  increased  to  a  hun.ired  and  sixty-five,  could  show 
eighty-two  schools,  with  more  than  ten  thousand  pupils. 


i:n"  the  united  states.  5T9 

DIOCESE   or  PEORIA,  1877. 

The  Diocese  of  reoria,  established  iu  1877,  comprised  the 
central  portion  ot"  Illinois,  tVoiii  ihe  northern  line  of  the  Diocrse 
of  Alton  to  the  southern  line  of  Hock  Ishiud,  Henry,  Bureau, 
Putnam,  La  Salle,  Grundy,  and  Kankakee  counties.  The  first 
bishop,  the  Right  Rev.  John  Lancaster  Spalding,  D.D.,  a  ne- 
phew of  the  well-known  Bishop  of  Louisville,  and  Archbishop 
of  Baltimore,  educated  at  Rome,  and  remarkable  for  learning  and 
eloquence,  was  appointed  November  27th,  187G,  and  consecrated 
on  the  1st  of  May,  1877.  The  new  diocese  contained,  in  1878, 
seventy -five  churches,  attended  by  fifty-one  priests,  and  a  Cath- 
olic population  of  45,000.  Three  academies  and  twelve  paro- 
chial schools  formed  the  nucleus  for  a  future  system  of  Catholic 
education,  as  an  hospital  did  for  the  scheme  of  works  of  mercy. 


CHAPTER     XXXVL 

STATE  OF  MICHIGAN. 


Diocese  of  Detroit,  1832.— Early  History— The  first  Cross  in  the  West,  Sanlt  Ste. 
Marie— Mackinac— Detroit— A  Ilccollect  sheds  liis  blood— F.  Potier  the  last  Jesuit— 
Kev.  Gabriel  Richard— See  of  Baltimore— See  of  Bardstown— Sec  of  Cincinnati— A 
See  at  Detroit— liight  Rev.  Frederick  Rese,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  Peter  Paul  Le  Fevrc, 
D.D.,  Coadjutor  and  Administrator- Right  Rev.  Casper  II.  Borgcss,  D.D. 

Diocese  of  Sault  Ste.  Makie.— Right  Rev.  Frederick  Baraga,  D.D.— See  transferred 
to  Marquette— Right  Rev.  Ignatius  Mrak,  D.D. 

The  Cross  was  p]ant.<^d  in  the  West,  on  the  soil  of  Michiiz-in, 
when  the  venemblc  Father  Isaac  Joo-nes,  S.J.,  and  Cliarles 
Raynibnut,  S..T. .  1042.  first  announced  the  Gospel  to  the  Ciiip- 
peways  of  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  Rene  Menard,  in  16^0,  a  ]^,ricst 
of  the  same  order,  invited  by  the  O'tawas,  accompanied  them 
to  the  West,  founded  a  mission  at  Keweenaw,  on  Lake  Sup-rlor, 


580  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

and  died  the  next  year  by  the  hands  of  prowling  savage?,  while 
.he  was  trying  to  reach  some  desiitute  Huroiis  on  Black  River. 
The  news  of  his  death  only  quickened  the  zi^al  otFaiher  Claude 
AUouez,  wlio  formed  a  ini.-.sion  at  Chegoimegon,  October  Ir-t, 
1GG5,  and  dedicated  it  lo  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  preached  to  the 
Ottawas  and  Hurons,  iribes  of  difft-rent  origin  and  language. 
Other  mitsionaries  joined  him — Dablon,  Andre,  Druillettes,  and 
■Marquette,  who  renewed  the  mission  at  Sauk  Ste.  Marie,  till 
the  Sioux,  provoked  lo  war,  forced  Hurons  and  Ottawas  to 
take  refuge  at  Micliilimackinac,  where  Father  Marquette,  in 
1671,  began  the  mission  of  St.  Ignatius.  This  point  was  soon, 
and  remained  for  miauy  years,  an  important  French  po>t;  so 
that  here  the  first  white  church  in  Michigan  may  be  said  to 
have  existed.  A  mission  station  among  the  Miamis  was  founded 
on  St.  Joseph's  River. 

In  1688,  Fort  St.  Joseph,  at  Detroit,  formed  the  nucleus  of 
the  post  established  by  La  Mothe  Cadillac,  in  1700.  He  brought 
a  number  of  Canadian  families,  and  was  accompanied  by  the 
Jesuit  Father  Vaillant  and  a  Recollect.  A  chapel  was  at  once 
erected,  superior  in  architecture  to  the  cabins  of  upright  pun- 
cheons raised  by  the  settlers.  The  Recollect  Father,  Nicholas 
Benedict  Constantine  de  Chasle,  was  soon  ser.t  to  jicl  as  chap- 
lain for  the  fort  and  colonists.  But,  in  1704,  some  discontented 
liidians  set  fire  to  a  barn,  and  the  fi:st  church  perished  in  the 
conflagration.  Two  years  later  the  Ottawas,  who  had  come  from 
Michilimackinar",  made  a  sudden  attack  on  tlie  Miamis  near  the 
Fort  and  killed  Father  Constantine  as  he  was  walking  outside 
s-'vino-  his  breviarv.  H<;  was  succeeded  by  Fathers  Dominic  de 
la  Mirche,  Oherubin  Denieau,  Hyacinth  Pelifresne,  of  the  same 
order.  Messrs.  Calvarin,  Mercier  and  Thaumur  de  la  Source,  of 
the  Quebec  seminary,  followed. 

The  church,  once  rebuilt,  was  destroyed  by  the  commandant 
at  the  time  of  the  attack  on  Detroit  by  the  Foxes  in  1712.  The 


IK  THE   UNITED   STATES.  581 

third  Cliurch  of  St.  Anne  was  erected  within  the  palisades,  on 
the  north  side  of  St.  Anne  Street,  opposite  a  huge  military 
o-arden.  This  continued  to  be  the  church  of  tiie  settlement  lor 
many  vears  during  all  the  stirring  sccues  of  the  last  struggle  of 
the  French,  during  Pontiac's  war ;  during  our  Revolution,  wliile 
it  was  held  by  the  English  Government  down  to  the  year  1805. 
Of  the  clergy  during  the  French  period  mention  is  made  of 
Father  Bonaventure,  Recollect,  a  cultivated  man,  whose  library 
was  well  chosen,  who  acted  as  instructor  to  the  young,  and, 
learning  Indian  languages,  ministered  to  the  red  men  near  him. 
Besides  him  Fathers  Anthony  Delinas  and  Daniel  were  here. 
The  Recolh^ct  Father,  Simplicius  Boquet,  was  parish  priest  from 
1751  to  1782.  Among  the  clergy  of  Detroit  during  the  Eng- 
lish rule  were  the  veteran  Thomas  Potier,  who  died  in  1781; 
and  the  Rev.  John  Francis  Hubert,  wlio,  in  June,  1785,  was 
appointed  Bishop  of  Almyra,  and  coadjutor  of  Quebec.  They 
■were  on  the  Canada  shore  but  seem  to  have  labored  in  Michigan. 

On  the  11th  of  June,  1805,  the  city,  many  of  the.  buildings 
being  old  and  aftbrding  an  easy  prey  to  the  flames,  was  laid  in 
ashes,  only  two  buildings  escaping.  St.  Anne's  Church  perished. 
An  Act  of  Congress  authorized  the  laying  out  of  a  new  town, 
assigning  certain  lots  to  each  inhabitant  of  the  oJd  town. 

The  site  of  St.  Anne's  was  on  the  new  plan  taken  by  JefFeison 
Avenue  ;  and  a  lot  in  the  centre  of  the  little  military  square,  near 
the  burying  ground,  two  hundred  feet  square  and  fronting  on 
four  streets,  was  assigned  for  it  in  1806  ;  and  soon  after  a  lot  was 
as-igned  for  an  academy  under  the  care  of  Sisters,  and  another 
site  for  an  academy  for  boys. 

The  Rev.  Gabriel  Richard  was  a  remarkable  priest,  who, 
wlien  Superior  of  theSulpitian  Seminary,  at  Issy,  little  dreamed 
that  he  would  one  day  sit  in  the  Congi-ess  of  the  United  States, 
as  Delegate  from  one  of  the  Territories.  He  came  to  the  United 
Stales,  and  was,  in  1798,  sent  to  Detroit,  where  the  Rev.  Messrs. 


582  T^E   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Frechette  and  Levadoux  bad  diicctcd  the  parish.  The  Abbe 
Richard  became  not  only  j»asior  of  his  Hock,  but  one  of  the  lead- 
ing minds  iu  the  development  of  the  West,  lie  gave  an  impulse 
to  education,  and  cstabi-ished  the  first  priming  press  in  Michigan, 
issuing  several  useful  works,  and  the  first  portiou  of  SciipLure 
printed  beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains, 

Besides  St.  Anne's  Church  in  Detroit,  there  was  a  chuich  at 
Raisin  River,  and  one  at  the  Cote  de  Nordcst ;  but  before  1806 
the  Sulpitians  who  had  attended  these  missions  retired. 

As  Michigan  was  made  subject  to  Bishop  Flaget  at  his  ap- 
pointment, he  visited  it  in  1817,  to  settle  difficulties  that  had 
arisen  in  the  Church  at  the  Cote  de  Nordest,  as  to  which  he  had 
already  issued  a  pastoral.  He  restored  harmony  ;  and,  about 
the  same  time,  in  a  treaty  made  wiih  the  United  States,  the 
Catholic  Ottawas,  Chippewas,  and  Pottawatimies  stipulated 
that  a  tract  of  a  square  mile  on  Raisin  River  should  be  set  apart 
for  St.  Anne's  Church  and  the  college  or  academy  for  boys. 

When,  five  years  later,  the  See  of  Cincinnati  was  erected, 
Michigan  fell  under  the  administration  of  Bishop  Fenwick.  That 
zealous  missionary  at  once  sought  to  have  a  bishop  appointed 
at  Detroit ;  the  Indians  of  Arbre  Croche  having,  in  18:33,  ap- 
pealed to  the  President  for  priests.  As  the  new  see  was  not 
immediately  erected.  Bishop  Fenwick  visited  the  Catholic  con- 
gregations in  Michigan  in  1827,  confirming  at  Detroit,  Arbre 
Croche,  where  Rev.  Mr.  De  Jean  was  laboring,  and  at  Mackinac. 
Two  young  Indian  boys,  whose  piety  and  aptitude  seemed  to 
justify  the  step,  were  sent  to  Rome  to  study  for  the  priesthood, 
but  the  experiment  failed  :  one  died  and  the  other  did  not  per- 
severe. 

The  Very  Rev.  Frederick  Rcze,  as  Vicar-General,  next  visited 
Michigan,  and  founded  an  Indian  Church  at  St.  Joseph's  River. 
The  bishop  himself,  in  a  visitation  in  1832,  was  struck  down  by 
cholera,  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  but  recovering,  proceeded  to  Mac- 


IlSr   THE    UNITED    STATES.  583 

kinaw  and  Arbre  Croclie,  where  he  had  placed  the  Rev.  Fred- 
eric Baraira  in  charsje  of  seven  hundred  Catholic  Indians.  At 
Detroit  the  dying  bishop  found  the  Rev.  Gabriel  Richard  on 
his  death-bed. 

In  1833,  the  Diocese  of  Detroit  was  created,  embracing  Mich- 
igan and  Northwest  Territories,  and  the  Very  Rev.  Frederic 
Reze,  a  native  of  Hanover,  already  familiar  with  the  actual  con- 
dition and  wants  of  the  Catholics  in  that  district,  was  appointed 
bishop.  lie  was  consecrated  at  St.  Louis  by  Bishop  Rosati, 
October  6tli,  1833. 

His  diocese  contained  St.  Anne's  Church,  Detroit ;  St.  An- 
thony's, at  Monroe ;  St.  Mary's,  at  Maurice  Bay ;  St.  Francis,  on 
Huron  River;  St.  Patrick's,  at  Ann  Arbor;  St.  Joseph's,  on  ihe 
river  of  the  same  name,  attended  by  the  Rev.  Stephen  T.  Badin  ; 
St.  Ignatius',  at  Mackinaw,  attended,  from  1830,  by  the  Dominican 
Father  Mazzuchelli,  who  soon  visited  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Green 
Bav,  and  Prairie  du  Chien ;  St.  Felicitas',  on  Lake  St.  Clair,  and 
the  Ottawa  Mission  at  Arbre  Croche. 

Bishop  Reze,  the  first  of  our  German  bishops,  appealed  to 
Catholic  Germany  for  aid.  The  Redemptorists,  Fathers  Saen- 
derle,  Hetscher,  and  Tscherhong,  came  in  1832  to  commence  at 
Arbre  Cioche,  Sault  Ste.  Mary,  and  Green  Bay,  the  labors  which 
have  since  been  so  fruitful  of  good  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Two  Poor  Clares,  Nuns  of  the  Second  Order  of  St.  Francis, 
founded  a  convent  at  Detroit,  and  two  others  proceeded,  in 
1833,  to  Green  Bay,  with  Father  Mazzuchelli,  to  open  a  school 
there.  Missions  were  renewed  among  the  Menomonees  and 
Winnebagoes. 

Under  the  impulse  of  the  bishop,  St.  Patrick's  Church  was 
erected  in  Detroit,  and  priests  stationed  at  Monroe,  Grand  River, 
Bertrand ;  St.  Philip's  College  began  at  Cote  du  Nord-Est, 
There  were  drawbacks  indeed.  The  priest  at  Monroe,  the  Rev. 
Samuel  B.  Smith,  a  convert,  apostatized,  and  became  one  of  the 


584  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

most  vile  tradiic.ers  of  the  Church,  ecUting  a  paper  called  the 
"  Downfall  of  Babylon,"  and  pandering  to  a  depraved  taste  h}^ 
licentious  books,  in  which  obscenity  was  covered  up  by  attacks 
on  Catholicity. 

Still  there  was  progress.  In  the  cholera  of  1834:,  when  one- 
tenth  of  the  population  of  Detroit  was  swept  away,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Kundig,  aided  b}^  the  Catliolic  ladies,  opened  an  hospital  and 
cared  for  the  sick  of  all  creeds.  In  1840  there  were  in  Michi- 
gan at  least  twenty  churches  ;  eleven  priests  were  employed  on 
the  mission  in  instruction  ;  St.  Philip's  University,  and  Trinity 
Chui'ch  Academy,  in  Detroit,  gave  hopes  of  useful  existence; 
there  were  parochial  schools  at  Detroit,  St.  Joseph's,  Gnwid 
River,  and  Arbre  Ctoche;  an  orphan  asylum  at  Detroit;  and 
the  Ladies  of  Providence,  a  community  devoted  to  works  of 
mercy. 

Unfortunately  it  became  evident  to  Bishop  Reze  himself,  as 
■well  as  to  his  colleagues,  that  from  waywardness  and  want  of 
self-control,  he  was  no  longer  a  leader  in  the  work  of  progress, 
but  an  impediment.  He  had  gone  to  Baltimore  in  1837,  and, 
in  a  letter  to  the  Fathers  assembled  in  Provincial  Council,  ex- 
pressed a  wish  to  resign  the  see,  or  transfer  the  administration 
to  a  coadjutor.  The  Holy  See  invited  him  to  Rome,  and,  in 
1841,  appointed  as  Bishop  of  Zela,  in  partibus,  and  coadjutor, 
the  Rev.  Peter  Paul  Lefebvre,  a  Belgian  priest,  born  at  Roulers, 
April  30th,  1804,  ordained  in  the  United  States  in  1831,  from 
which  year  he  was  a  laborious  missionary  in  the  Diocese  of 
Cincinnati.  At  the  time  of  his  appointment  he  was  in  Europe, 
but  returning,  was  consecrated  at  Philadelphia,  November  21&t, 
1841. 

Proceedinix  to  his  diocese  he  reonilated  the  tenure  of  St. 
Ann's  Church,  began  the  new  Cathedral  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul,  and,  visiting  his  diocese,  established  many  stations  for  the 
offering  of  t^ie  Holy  Sacrifice  till  a  church  could  be  erected  and 


IN-  THE   UlTITED   STATES.  585 

a  priest  supported.  He  was  careful  and  jiidicions  in  his  selec- 
tion of  new  priests,  and  secured  zealous  and  laborious  workers. 
He  recalled  the  Redemptorists,  whose  convent  still  subsists  at 
Detroit;  invited  the  Ladies  of  the  Sncred  Heart  to  establish  an 
academy  for  the  superior  eduoalion  of  young  Catholic  ladies. 
To  his  grief,  St.  Philip!s  College,  his  chief  seminary  for  higher 
education,  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  January,  1842.  For  the 
conunon  school  education,  finding  the  Legislature  leavened  with 
the  usual  bigoted  axiom,  that  all  must  be  taxed  for  public 
schools,  and  Prutestautism  inculcated  in  them,  he  began  to  de- 
velop in  his  diocese  that  system  of  Catholic  schools  which  will 
soon  be  the  great  hope  of  the  American  future.  At  his  call  the 
Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools  came  to  direct  parochial 
schools  for  boys  ;  and  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  and  Sisters  of 
Charity,  but  especially  Sisters  of  the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary, 
to  direct  the  parochial  schools  for  girls.  This  community,  with 
the  blessing  of  Grod,  throve,  and  soon  spread  to  all  parts  of  the 
diocese. 

The  influx  of  settlers  had  so  increased  the  Catholic  body  in 
Michigan  and  Wisconsin  that,  in  1844,  a  new  see  was  est.ablished 
at  Milwaukee,  and  the  Right  Rev.  John  M.  Henni  consecrated 
as  bishop  of  his  diocese,  embracing  the  State  of  Wisconsin. 
Delivered  from  the  care  of  that  State,  Bishop  Lefebvre  could 
devote  himself  to  the  expansion  of  the  church  iu  Michigan. 
Churches  sprang  up  at  Cotterellville,  Swan  Creek,  Greenfield, 
Hambranck,  Westphalia,  Green  Oak,  and  Cannonburg.  The 
mission  to  the  Indians  in  his  jurisdiction  took  new  life:  while 
the  veteran  Rev.  Mi'.  Baiaga  labored  at  Keweenaw ;  the  zealous 
Fiancis  Pierz,  in  eight  years,  baptized  nine  hundred  and  fifty-six, 
mostly  converts,  at  Arbre  Croche  ;  the  Rev.  Francis  Baraux 
ministered  to  three  hundred  Pottawatamies  at  Pokagan,  Sisters 
of  the  Holy  Cross  aiding  him  by  their  schools;  the  Jesuit 
Fathers,  Point  and  Menetry,  were  reviving  the  labors  of  their 


586  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

predecessors  at  Sault  St.  Mary's;  tlie  Rev.  Ignatius  Mrak  had 
charge  of  tlie  missions  and  churches  at  Lacroix,  Middlclown, 
Castor  Island,  and  Manistee,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Visuzsky,  at  Grand 
River  Rapids,  had  a  flock  of  many  rac«^s  and  tungnes. 

Soon  after,  in  October,  1855,  the  Fraiu-iscan  Father  John 
Bernard  Weikamp,  with  Brotliers  and  S^^st^rs  of  the  Thiid  Order, 
took  the  mission  at  Cross  Village,  or  Arbre  Croche,  and  began 
to  erect  a  large  church,  with  two  convents,  which  have  prospered 
to  this  day,  many  of  the  Indians  taking  the  habit,  and  rendering 
the  mission  a  centre  from  which  other  stations  have  been  at- 
tended. 

Bishop  Lefebvre  drew  many  of  his  faiihful  auxiHaries  from 
Belgium  ;  and  when  Bishop  Spakling,  after  visiting  that  emi- 
nently Catholic  country,  projected  an  Ameriean  college  there, 
Bishop  Lefebvre  entered  warmly  into  the  project,  though  no 
other  bishop  in  the  country  joined  them.  The  object  of  this 
institution  was  to  gain,  in  a  country  where  vocations  were  so 
numerous,  zealous  young  men  who  would  pursue  their  studies  in 
the  American  college,  and  then  give  their  talents  to  the  mission 
in  the  Uniied  Stares.  Bishop  Spalding  and  Bishop  Lefebvre 
conferred  a  lasiing  boon  on  the  Church  in  this  country.  In  six- 
teen years  this  college,  with  slender  resources,  unaided  by  any 
of  our  wealthy  Calholirs,  has  sent  to  the  United  States  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty-four  well-trained  zealous  priests. 

With  singular  forecast  Bishop  Lefebvie  secured,  in  advance, 
sites  for  future  churches,  and  carefidly  guarded  the  propeity 
owned  by  the  diocese.  Finding  that  increase  of  Catholics  made 
the  direct  supervision  of  a  bishop  desirable  in  the  upper  penin- 
sula and  its  Indian  missions,  he  induced  the  erection  of  the  See 
of  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  in  1857.  The  lower  })eninsula,  from  that 
date,  alone  constituted  the  Diocese  of  Detroit,  and  contained  fifty- 
six  churches,  in  which  forty-three  priests  officiated.  When  he 
died,  twelve  years  later,  the  churches  had  increased  to  seventy- 


IN  THE    UNITED    STATES.  587 

five,  and  the  priests  had  nearly  doubled  in  number.  The  old 
Catholic  city  of  Detroit  could  boast  of  a  cathedral,  seven  otlun* 
churches,  a  chapel  for  Hollanders  and  Flemings,  and  another 
chapel  set  apart  for  colored  people ;  a  Redemptorist  Convent,  a 
community  of  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  directing  select  schools, 
free  schools,  and  an  orphan  asylum  ;  Sisters  of  Charily  had 
charge  of  an  hospital,  insane  and  orphan  asylums,  select  and  free 
schools.  The  Sister  Servants  of  the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary, 
with  their  mother  house  at  Monroe,  had  spread  to  Detroit, 
Adrian,  "Westphalia,  Ann  Arbor,  East  Saginaw,  Stony  Creek ; 
the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools  liad  an  excellent  school  at 
Detroit.  The  whole  number  of  the  faithful  in  the  diocese  was 
estimated  at  150,000. 

In  his  sixty-fifih  year  erysipelas  set  in  at  a  spot  injured  in  his 
mission  labors  years  before.  Bishop  Lefebvre  retired  to  an  hos- 
pital founded  for  the  poor,  and  died  there  March  4th,  1869. 

The  Very  Rev,  Peter  Hennaert,  V.  G.,  was  administrator  of 
the  diocese  until  the  Right  Rev.  Casper  H.  Borgess  was  conse- 
crated Bishop  of  Calydon,  April  24th,  1870,  and  made  coadjutor 
to  the  Bishop  of  Detroit,  and  administrator  of  the  diocese 

He  acted  in  this  capacity  till  the  death  of  Bishop  Resg,  De- 
cember 27th,  1871.  That  prelate  remained  at  Rome  till  the 
Revolution  of  1848,  when  he  returned  to  his  native  country — 
Hanover.  Under  Dr.  Borgess  we  can  mark  the  growth  of  reli- 
gion. His  diocese,  in  1878,  containing  the  Pro-Cathedral  of  St. 
Aloysius,  and  fourteen  other  churches  in  the  city  of  Detroit ; 
eighty-eight  other  churches  with  resident  pastors  ;  ninety-one 
other  churches  regularly  attended  ;  more  than  a  hundred  sta- 
tions ;  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  priests ;  a  college  and  many 
academies ;  fifty-six  parochial  schools,  and  twelve  thousand 
Catholic  pupils  iu  them,  out  of  a  total  Catholic  population  of 
175,000. 


588  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

VICARIATE  APOSTOLIC   OF   UPPER  MICHIGAN",   1853. 

When,  for  a  second  time,  it  was  found  necessary  to  divide  the 
Diocese  of  Detroit,  the  npper  peninsula  of  Michigan,  bathed  bv 
the  waters  of  Lake  Superior,  rich  in  mineral  wealth,  was  erected 
into  a  Vicariate  ApostoHc,  July  29th,  1853,  and  the  Rev. 
Frederic  Baraga,  a  missionary  who  had  labored  on  the  Michigan 
mission  for  more  than  twenty  years,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of 
Amyzonia,  in  i^artibus^  and  appointed  Vicar  Apostolic  of  Upper 
Michigan. 

The  Vicariate  embraced  the  site  of  the  first  labors  of  Jojrues 
and  Raymbault,  of  Menard  and  Ma.rquette. 

Rev.  Father  Rene  Menard,  S.  J.,  began  a  mission  at  Keweenaw 
Bay,  on  St.  Teresa's  Day,  1660,  erecting  a  cabin  of  fir  branches. 
Here  he  labored  for  a  year  among  the  Ottawas,  and  perished  in 
the  month  of  August  of  the  following  year,  while  trying  to  reach 
some  Christian  Hurons  who  had  long  been  deprived  of  a  mis- 
sionary. The  shores  of  Lake  Superior  were  without  a  priest  till 
September  1st,  1665,  when  Father  Claude  Allouez,  S.  J.,  reached 
Sault  Ste.  Mary's.  On  the  first  of  the  ensuing  month  he  planted 
the  cross  at  Chegoimegon  and  began  the  mission  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Here  he  preached  the  faith  to  a  number  of  tribes — Ot- 
tawas, Chippewas,  Pottaw  at  amies.  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Kickapoos, 
Miarais,  and  Illinois.  Other  fathers  —  Louis  Nicolas,  James 
Marquette,  Claude  Dablon,  Druillettes,  and  Andre — soon  joined 
him.  Father  Druillettes  founded  a  mission  at  Sault  St.  Mary's. 
Marquette  continued  the  work  at  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
till  the  Sioux,  provoked  by  the  aggressions  of  his  f^ock,  made 
war  on  them.  Father  Marquette  then  removed  his  mission  to 
Mackinaw,  and  soon  after  set  out  on  his  voyage  to  lift  the  veil 
from  the  course  of  the  great  river  Mississippi. 

In  1671,  Father  Druillettes'  chapel  at  the  Sault  was  burned 
during  a  conflict  between  the  Sioux  and  Chippewas;  but  the 


Iiq-  THE   UNITED   STATES.  589      | 

zealous  Jesuit  labored  on  till  1679.  Two  years  before  Father 
Noiivcl  erected  a  bark  cabin  at  Mackinaw. 

The  fonndiug*  of  Detroit  drew  the  Indians  to  that  settlement, 
and,  in  1700,  the  mis^^ionaries,  to  save  it  from  profanation,  set 
fire  to  their  chapel  at  Mackinaw.  The  Ottawas,  however,  leturned 
in  a  few  years,  and  missionaries  were  stationed  here  from  time 
to  time  till  the  suppression  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  and  the  fall 
of  the  French  power.  Father  Du  Jaunay  and  Father  Lefranc 
were  the  last  at  Arbre  Croclie  and  Mackinaw,  extending  their 
visits  to  the  Upper  Lake  and  Green  Bay  down  to  17G5. 

Bishop  F^laget,  wliile  the  western  territory  was  under  his 
conirol,  did  all  in  his  power  to  revive  religion  ;  and  Bishop 
Fenwick  of  Cincinnati  was  stricken  down  by  cholera  at  Sault 
Ste.  Marie.  AYhen  Detroit  received  a  bishop  still  greater  efforts 
were  made,  especially  for  the  Indians  ;  and  the  Redemptorist 
Fathers  began  their  American  labors  in  this  field.  But  the  real 
life  of  the  Oliurch  in  this  century  in  Upper  Michigan  begins  wiih 
the  labors  of  the  Rev.  Frederic  Baraga,  a  priest  of  Carniola,  who 
came  to  this  country  in  1831  to  devote  himself  to  the  Indians. 
He  set  out  from  Detroit  with  Bishop  Fenwick,  and  fixed  his 
mission  centre  at  Arbre  Croche.  Studying  their  language  till 
he  became  an  authority  in  it,  he  revived  religion  among  the 
Ottawas,  priming  catechisms,  prayer  and  hymn  books  in  tlieir 
own  tongue.  In  1835  he  raised  anew  the  cross  of  Father 
Allouez  at  La|)ointe  ;  and,  in  a  short  time,  reared  a  conspicuous 
chapel.  Aided  by  the  Leopoldine  Society  he  advanced  to  Fond 
du  Lac.  In  1843  he  leftLapointe  to  the  Rev.  Otlo  Skolla,  and 
began  a  new  mis>ion  at  the  Ance,  and  in  a  few  years  all  the  In- 
dians were  converted. 

Soon  after  his  settlement  at  the  Ance  the  opening  of  the  cop- 
per mines  drew  emigrants,  many  of  whom  weie  Catholics.  To 
provide  for  these,  as  well  as  the  Indians,  Canadians,  and  Half- 
breeds,  was  beyond  the  powers  of  a  simple  missionarj-.     The 


590  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Council  of  Baltimore,  in  1852,  requested  the  Pope  to  erect 
Upper  Michigan  into  a  Vicariate  Apostolic ;  the  reasons  given 
were  so  con\  incino'  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Baraga  i\  as  appointed,  and 
cc^isecrated  November  1st,  1853,  Bishop  of  Amyzonia,  in  imr- 
tibus^  and  Vicar-Apostolic.  The  district  assigned  to  him  con- 
tained St.  Mary's  at  the  SauU,  directed  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers  ; 
St.  Ann's,  at  Mackinaw;  and  St.  Ignatius,  at  Point  St.  Ign;ice  ; 
St,  Leopold's  at  Beaver  Island ;  and  St.  Joseph's  at  Manistee, 
The  bishop,  who  shrank  from  no  hardship,  traversed  his  diocese, 
seekino'  to  ofather  all  his  flock.  When,  on  the  9th  of  January, 
1857,  he  was  made  Bishop  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie's,  he  had  estab- 
lished an  Ursuline  convent  at  the  Sault,  churches  at  Marquette, 
Eagle  Harbor,  Ontonagon  Village,  Minnesota  and  Norwich 
mines,  priests  visiting  from  these  centres  the  scattered  Cath- 
olics in  the  copper  district.  Societies  revived  the  fervor  of  the 
people,  and  schools  ensured  the  proper  training  of  the  young. 
His  laborious  mission  life  continued,  with  hardships  and  a  denial 
of  all  comforts.  In  the  winter  of  1861  his  health  was  materi- 
ally injured  by  a  journey  in  snow-shoes  and  open  sleighs  to 
reach  a  point  from  which  he  could  set  out  to  attend  a  provincial 
council.  The  see  was  removed  to  Marquette  in  1865,  but  the 
old  title  was  retained,  though  the  little  city  that  bore  the  name 
of  the  holy  founder  of  the  Mackinaw  mission  and  discoverer  of 
the  Mississippi,  became  his  residence. 

While  attending  the  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore,  in  1866, 
he  was  stricken  down  with  apoplexy  on  the  steps  of  Archbishop 
Spalding's  ic^sidence.  He  recovered  sufficiently  to  be  able  to 
reach  his  own  humble  home,  where  he  died,  January  6th,  1868, 
after  having,  in  the  previous  year,  resigned  his  bishopric. 

The  diocese,  including  part  of  Southern  Michigan  and  Wis- 
consin placed  under  his  jurisdiction,  then  contained  thirty-two 
churches  and  sixteen  priests,  with  convent  schools  at  Marquette, 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  591 

Hancock,  Sanlt  Ste.  Marie,  and  L'Ance.     The  number  of  the 
faithful  had  increased  to  twenty  thousand. 

Ihe  Very  l\ev.  Edwjird  Jackcr  became  ilic  administrator  of 
the  Diocese  of  Marquette  proper,  till  the  Right  Kev.  Ignatius 
Mrak,  who  had  for  many  years  labored  in  the  missions,  was  con- 
secrated ^Bishop  of  Marquette,  February  7th,  1S69.  In  the 
diocese  he  had  twenty-tour  churches,  and  twelve  priests;  but, 
from  the  depression  in  the  mining  business,  the  Catholic  popu- 
lation fell  otf  rather  than  gained,  and,  down  to  1878,  it  did  not 
exceed  twenty  thousand.  Yet  the  bishop,  by  zealous  and  un- 
remitting effort,  erected  three  needed  churches,  and  obtained 
the  services  of  several  more  priests.  The  Catholic  body,  how- 
ever, were  unable  to  give  the  necessary  patronage  to  the  higlier 
academies.  The  Ursulines  retired  from  Marquette,  where  the 
Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  resumed  their  labors  ;  but  closed  their 
school  at  L'Ance.  The  Sisters  of  the  Immaculate  Heart  of 
Mary,  however,  opened  an  academy  and  school  at  Sault  St. 
Mary's,  as  the  Sisters  of  St.  Agnes  did  at  Menomonee. 

In  1877  the  bishop  visited  Pointe  St.Ignace,  where  the  Rev. 
Edward  Jacker  had  just  made  a  most  consoling  discovery. 
The  ruins  of  the  old  chapel  of  Father  Marquette,  which  had  long 
been  lost  sight  of,  were  discovered  ;  and  investigation  led  to  the 
discoverv  of  the  vault  where  his  remains  had  been  deposited. 
They  had  evidently  been  rifled  by  some  Indian  medifi-ine-man, 
as  fragments  of  the  bark  box,  and  a  few  bones  of  the  holy  ex- 
plorer alone  remained. 

Ill  health,  about  tliis  time,  made  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Mrak 
anxious  to  retire,  and,  in  the  summer  of  1878,  he  resigned  the 
see,  and  His  Holiness,  Pope  Leo  XHL,  accepting  his  reasons, 
the  Very  Rev.  Edward  Jacker  became  again  administrator  of 
the  diocese. 


592  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

STATE  OF   WISCONSIN.  * 

Diocese  of  Milwaukee,  1844.— Early  History— Father  Allouez— Close  of  the  old  Mis- 
sions—Eev.  S.  T.  Badin— Father  Mazzuchelli— Right  liev.  John  Martin  Henni,  First 
Bishop— Seminary— Capuchins. 

Diocese  of  Green  Bay,  1868.— Early  History— Right  Rev.  Joseph  Melcher,D.D.— Right 
Rev.  F.  X.  Krautbauer. 

Diocese  of  La  Ceosse,  1868.— Prairie  du  Chien— Right  Rev.  John  Michael  Heiss,  D.D. 

The  Diofiese  of  Milwaukee,  embracing  the  State  of  Wiscon- 
sin, was  erected  in  1844.  Catliolicity  begins  her  history  nearly 
two  centuries  earlier.  Father  Claude  Allouez,  the  adventurous 
Jesuit,  leaving  the  missions  on  Lake  Superior  in  the  hands  of 
otlier  Fathers  who  had  joined  him,  pushed  on,  in  1G69,  to  Green 
Bay  ;  and,  saying  mass  there  for  the  first  time  on  the  Feast  of 
St.  Francis  Xavier,  founded  a  mission  in  honor  of  the  Apostle  of 
the  Indies.  The  town  was  made  up  of  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Potta- 
watomies  and  Winnebagoes.  In  the  spring  he  ascended  Fox 
River,  and  preached  to  the  Mascoutens.  This  was  for  some 
time  the  scene  of  his  labors,  the  Hev.  F.  Andrg  and  other  mis- 
sionaries joining  him.  Father  Andrg,  at  St.  Francis  Xavier's, 
had  a  flock  of  five  hundred  Catholics,  and  was  winning  the 
whole  tribe ;  the  heathens,  furious  at  this,  set  fire  to  his  house. 
Nicholas  Perrot  and  others  who  visited  the  West  for  trade  or 
exploration,  helped  to  build  up  a  church  ;  and  a  silver  mon- 
strance given  by  Perrot  to  the  Chui'ch  of  St.  Francis  Xavier  in 
1686  is  still  in  existence. 

The  missions  on  Green  Bay  prospered  under  Father  En- 
jalran  and  others,  till  hostilities  were  excited  by  reckless  whites. 
AdonnS  was  murdered  at  the  Winnebaoo  mission,  and  a  lay 
brother  cruelly  treated  among  the  Foxes;  but,  in   sj)ite  of  wars, 


11^   THE    UNITED    STATES.  593 

the  missions  were  kept  up  by  Chardon  and  others,  till  they 
finally  closed  with  the  death  of  Fathers  Lefranc  and  Da  Jaunay 
after  the  fall  of  Canada. 

The  Rev.  Stephen  T.  Badin  was  one  of  the  first  to  reach  Gr<-en 
Bay  af;er  that  part  was  confided  to  the  care  of  Bishop  Flaget; 
he  was  followed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Rese,  in  1830  ;  then  the  Re- 
deraptorists,  nnder  Father  Sandcrl  ;  the  Dominican  Father  .\hiz- 
zuchelli,  and  the  Rev.  M.  VandenBroeck  entered  the  field.  The 
old  missions  among-  the  Sacs,.  Menomonees  and  Winnebagoes 
were  revived,  many  were  converted  and  baptized  ;  and  Bishop 
Fenwick,  visiting  the  log  chapel  of  St.  John  at  Green  Bay,  in 
1831,  found  many  ready  for  confirmation. 

AYhite  settlements  now  began  to  increase.  The  Menomonees 
and  Winnebagoes  w^ere  removed,  and,  ere  long,  not  an  Indian 
remained  in  Wisconsin. 

Fort  Winnebago,  Green  Bay,  Kakalin  Rapids,  and  Prairie  du 
Chien  were  stations  with  resident  priests  in  1836,  and  a  convent 
of  Poor  Clares  had  been  established  at  Green  Bay,  but  was  aban- 
doned in  a  few  years.  A  missionary.  Rev.  T.  T.  VandenBroeck, 
who  was  sent  to  Wisconsin  in  1834,  some  years  later  wrote : 
"Shortly  after  my  arrival  here  I  visited  a  spot  called  Milwaukee, 
where  resided  about  twenty  Catholics.  I  formed  a  missionary 
station  there,  and  visited  it  for  some  years  at  stated  times." 

In  1840,  the  newly  formed  Territory  of  Wisconsin  had 
churches  at  Green  Bay,  Milwaukee,  and  Van  Buren  ;  the  Rev. 
L.  Ravoux  was  completing  one  a  hundred  feet  long  by  fifty  in 
width,  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  the  Catholics  at  Southport  were 
preparing  to  erect  a  church.  The  mission  at  Kakalin  was  con- 
tinued, and  several  new  stations  were  begun.  The  French  Ca- 
nadians, Indian  converts,  and  settlers,  mainly  Iiish,  formed  the 
flock,  and  sermons  were  delivered  in  English,  French,  and  In- 
dian. In  1812,  St.  Augustine's  Church  rose  at  Sinsinawa,  near 
the  lead-mining:  district. 


594  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

In  1844,  the  Holy  See  made  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin  a 
diocese,  fixing  the  see  at  Milwaukee.  The  Very  Rev.  John 
Martin  Heniii,  Vicar-General  of  Cincinnati,  was  appointed  first 
bishop,  and  consecrated  on  the  lOtli  of  March,  1844.  He  was 
born  in  Gei  many,  June  IGth,  1805,  and  arrived  in  this  counti y 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  after  having  pursued  his  studies  at  St. 
Gall  and  Luzerne.  He  was  ordained  priest  by  Bishop  Feuwick, 
and  had  exercised  the  ministry  at  Cincinnati  and  Canton.  His 
energy  had  been  shown  in  establishing  the  "  Warheit's  Freiind," 
a  German  Catholic  newspaper,  and  in  founding  the  St.  Aloysius' 
Asylum. 

When  he  reached  Milwaukee,  May  3d,  1844,  St.  Peter's 
Church,  a  small  wooden  structure  on  Martin  Street  near  Jackson, 
was  the  only  house  of  worship  for  the  two  thousand  Catholics  in 
the  village  and  its  neighborhood.  St.  Gabriel's,  a  stone  church, 
had  been  begun  at  Prairie  du  Chien  ;  all  the  other  churches  in 
the  diocese  were  mere  block-houses  ;  and  for  the  faithful,  esti- 
mated at  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand,  he  had  five  priests.  He 
at  once  made  a  visitation  of  his  diocese  to  familiarize  himself 
with  the  work  before  him,  began  academies  at  Milwaukee,  and 
prepared  to  meet  the  immense  wants.  The  next  year  he  opened 
St.  Francis  de  Sales'  Theological  Seminary,  under  the  direction 
of  the  learned  Rev.  Michael  Heiss;  the  Dominican  Father 
Mazzuchelli  began  a  convent  of  his  order  at  Sinsinawa  Mound  ; 
the  Sisters  of  Charity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  opened  an  academy 
at  Potosi,  where  the  Rev.  James  Oausse  ministered  in  a  log 
ciiurch  ;  the  Indian  missions  were  developed  ;  and  the  diocese, 
when  but  two  years  old,  could  show  twenty-three  churches  built, 
eleven  building,  and  eighteen  priests. 

The  next  year  Milwaukee  could  boast  a  second  church,  St. 
Mary's;  the  Premonstratensian  Father  Inama  prepared  to  es- 
tablish a  regular  convent  of  his  order  in  Dane  County;  the 
Sisters  of  Charity  from  Emmetsburg  founded  an  academy,  and 


THE   UITITED   STATES.  595 

having,  in  the  fall  of  1847,  laid  the  corner-stone  of  an  hospital, 
opened  it  M.iy  15th,  1848. 

The  great  increase  of  the  Catholics,  and  the  prospect  of  a 
glorious  future  for  religion  in  the  Stati^,  induced  the  bisliop  to 
lay  the  corner-stone  of  a  new  cathedral  in  honor  of  St.  John — a 
fine  edifice  of  brick,  trimmed  with  stone,  155  feet  in  length  and 
75  wide;  but  he  suspended  the  work  to  establish  an  orphan 
asylum  under  the  care  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  The  Dominicans 
opened  a  college  at  Sinsinawa,  which  the  Legislatuie  chartered 
March  11th,  1848.  A  cemetery  was  laid  out  near  Milwaukee, 
and  a  chapel  erected  for  funeral  services. 

The  diocese  soon  received  a  most  important  accession  in  a 
colony  of  the  School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  an  institute  founded 
in  France  by  the  Blessed  Peter  Fourrier,  and  introduced  into 
the  United  States  from  Bavaria,  in  1847.  This  community,  from 
its  special  training,  gave  excellent  teachers,  and  spread  rapidly  ; 
Brothers  of  the  Thiid  Order  of  St.  Francis,  and  Sisters  of  the 
sam3  rule  settled  at  Nojoshing ;  Sisteis  of  St.  Bridget  at  Keno- 
sha ;  Dominican  Nuns  at  Benton  ;  in  1850,  Canons  of  the  Holy 
Cross  founded  a  house  of  their  ancient  rule  at  Brown  County. 

The  Catholic  Menomonees  suffered  by  removal  from  the 
Oconto  River  to  the  Wolf,  and  finally  from  the  State,  and  the 
Chippeway  missions  were  injured  in  the  same  way. 

Rapid  as  the  growth  of  the  Church  has  been  in  this  country, 
there  is  scarcely  a  parallel  to  that  in  Wisconsin.  At  the  end  of 
the  first  decade  of  his  administration,  Bishop  Henni  found  under 
his  pistoral  care  a  flock  of  a  hundred  thousand  souls ;  and  so 
Well  had  his  energy  kept  pace  with  the  influx  and  growth,  that 
he  had  a  hundred  and  twenty-eight  churches  and  chapels, 
thirty-three  churches  building,  and  seventy-three  priests  on  the 
mission. 

The  Capuchin  Order,  a  branch  of  the  great  Franciscan  family, 
which  had  done  missionary  service  in  earlier  days  in  Maine  and 


596  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

Louisiana,  was  also  established  in  the  diocese  by  the  Rev. 
BonavcMiture  Frey  and  the  Rev.  F.  Haas.  It  not  only  rendered 
greaL  service  in  Wisconsin,  where,  about  1864,  they  established 
the  ecclesiastical  Seminary  of  St.  Lawrence  of  Brundusium,  but 
sent  Fathers  eastward  as  far  as  New  York,  full  of  z^^al  and 
energy.  Tiie  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  also  revived  their 
old  missions  in  1857. 

As  soon  as  the  pressing  w^  of  churches  and  stations  was 
met,  all  energy  was  turned  to  the  maintenance  of  Catholic 
schools. 

By  the  year  1868,  before  Bishop  Henni  celebrated  his  silver 
jubilee,  the  faithful  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin  numbered  three 
hundred  thousand,  who  could  meet  to  take  part  in  the  awful 
sacrifice  oftered  on  the  altars  by  a  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
priests.  Pius  IX.,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1868,  erected  the 
Diocese  of  Gieen  Bay,  embracing  the  State  from  Lake  Michigan 
to  the  Wisconsin,  and  north  of  the  Fox  and  Manitowoc  rivers. 
The  Right  Rev.  Joseph  Melcher,  D.D.,  was  consecrated  the 
first  bishop.  The  district  north  and  west  of  the  Wisconsin  River 
became  the  Diocese  of  La  Crosse,  of  which  the  Right  lie  v. 
Michael  Lleiss  was  consecrated  bishop,  September  6th,  1868. 
Even  as  thus  reduced  the  Diocese  of  Milwaukee  had  two  hundred 
and  forty-three  churches  and  chapels,  and  one  hundred  and 
fifty-three  priests. 

Hitherto  the  Diocese  of  Milwaukee,  and  those  formed  from  it, 
constituted  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  province  of  St.  Louis,  but, 
in  1875,  the  venerable  pontiff*  Pope  Pius  IX.  made  Milwaukee 
an  Archiepiscopal  See,  the  suff'ragans  being  the  Bishops  of 
Green  Bay  and  La  Crosse  in  Wisconsin,  Marquette  in  Upper 
Michigan,  and  St.  Paul  in  Minnesota,  and  the  Vicariate-Apostolic 
of  Norihern  Minnesota  naturally  connects  itself  with  the  province. 

In  1875  this  diocese  had  its  remarkably  successful  theological 
seminary,  with  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  students ;  that  of  St. 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  597 

Lawrence  with  sixty-two ;  the  CathoHc  Normal  Scliool  and  Pio 
Nono  College  at  St.  Francis  Station,  founded  iu  1871 ;  the  Col- 
lege of  Our  Lady  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  directed  by  the  Priests  of 
the  Holy  Cross,  at  Watertown,  Wisconsin  ;  three  academies  for 
young  men,  aud  live  for  young  ladies  ;  numbers  of  select  and 
parochial  schools,  orphan  asylums,  a  deaf-mute  asylum,  a  home 
for  the  aged  under  the  care  of  the  Little  Sisters  of  the  I\»or,  and 
an  establishment  under  the  care  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy. 

DIOCESE   OF   GREEN   BAY,    18G8. 

Green  Bay  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  cradle  of  religion  in 
"Wisconsin.  It  contains  within  its  soil  the  remains  of  Father 
lieng  Menard ;  and  the  Cathedral  preserves  the  oldes  trelic  of 
the  Church  in  colonial  times,  found  at  Rapide  des  Peres,  six  miles 
above  the  head  of  Green  Bay,  where  the  chapel  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier  stood  ;  Nicholas  Perrot  and  other  pioneers  of  the  west 
were  its  benefactors,  and  the  mission  prospei'ed  till  the  Fox  In- 
dians, seduced  by  the  English,  began  hostilities.  During  these 
a  donnS  of  the  mission  was  killed  at  the  Winnebago  mission — 
the  foundation  of  the  stories  that  a  priest  was  killed  here. 
Father  Chardon  retired  before  De  Lignerie's  expedition  in  1728, 
and  the  mission  was  attended  irregularly  afier  peace  was  re- 
stored. The  Catholics  at  the  Bay  were  thirty  years  without 
seeing  a  priest. 

When  the  present  Wisconsin  became  part  of  Bishop  Carroll's 
extensive  charge,  and  was  subsequently  placed  under  l^ishop 
Flaget's  jurisdiction,  Green  Bay  began  to  receive  visits.  From 
18:^2,  when  the  Rev.  Gabriel  Richard  revived  the  old  church, 
Rev.  Messrs.  De  Jean  and  Badin  made  it  part  of  their  charge,     i 

In  1831,  the  Dominican  Father  Mazzuchelli  erected  ihe 
Church  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  at  Menomoneeville,  between 
Green  Bay  and  Des  Pgres.  In  1834,  the  Holland  clergyman, 
T.  T.  Vau  den  Broeck,  took  up  his  residence  at  Green  Bay, 


598 


THE   CATHOLIC   CnURCH 


then  consisting  of  ten  houses  of  white  people  and  a  number  of 
Indian  lodges.  A  new  church  and  parochial  residence  were 
erected,  and  the  congregation  increased  by  new-comers  and 
Indian  converts.  Leaving  the  mission  to  the  Kedempturists,  in 
1836,  he  began  a  new  church  at  Kakalin  the  next  year. 

From  the  time  of  the  erection  of  the  See  of  Milwaukee  in  1844, 
progress  was  rapid.  At  that  time  the  churches  already  men- 
tioned, with  St.  John  Baptist's  near  Pipe  Village,  and  a  few  sta- 
tions attended  from  them,  and  the  St.  Francis  Xavier's  mission 
at  Lake  Pewaugan,  comprised  all  within  the  present  Diocese 
of  Green  Bay.  Under  the  zealous  direction  of  Bishop  Henni 
churches  and  priests  muluplied,  so  that  when  the  new  diocese 
"Was  set  off,  in  1869,  there  were  four  churches  in  Green  Bay, 
two  at  Oshkosh  and  Appleton  ;  one  at  Clinton,  De  Pere,  Free- 
dom, Grand  Rapids,  Hollandtown,  Keshina,  Kewaunee,  Kossuth, 
Little  Shute,  Menasha,  Maple  Grove,  Moiitella,  New  Franklin, 
Oconto,  Portage  City,  Robinsouville,  Stevens'  Point,  and  Two 
Rivers,  with  sixteen  priests  attending  them.  The  Sisters  of  the 
Third  Order  of  St.  Dominic  had  convents  at  Oshkosh  and  Port- 
age City. 

The  first  Bishop  of  Green  Bay,  the  Right  Rev.  Joseph  Melcher, 
had  been  Vicar-General  of  the  Diocese  of  St.  Louis.  He  was  a 
native  of  Vienna,  but  completed  his  studies  and  took  his  doctor's 
degree  at  Modena.  After  his  ordination,  in  1830,  he  l>ecame 
chaplain  to  the  Court,  but,  leaving  all  the  honors  bef -re  him,  he 
came  to  America  in  1843,  with  Bishop  Rosati,  and  was  stationed 
at  Little  Rock,  whence  he  was  transferred  to  St.  Marv's  Church, 
St.  Louis,  of  which  he  remained  pnstor  till  he  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Green  Bay,  Jr.ly  l-.>th,  1868. 

By  his  inlSuence  the  Ursuline  Nuns  founded  a  convent  and 
academy  at  Green  Bay,  while  the  School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame 
took  up  their  residence  there  to  direct  parochial  schools,  and, 
extending  their  labors  in  time  to  De  Pere,  Chilton,  Stevens' 


Iiq"  THE   UKITED   STATES.  599 

Point  and  Appleton,  ^YlliIc  tlie  Franciscan  Tertiaries,  founded  at 
Menasha,  spread  to  Hollandtown.  In  1870  the  ancient  order  of 
Servitcs,  Servants  of  Mary,  founded  at  Florence  in  1233,  entered 
the  diocese  and  established  a  convent  on  Doty  Island,  Winnebago 
County,  whence  they  also  attended  Appleton.  Nuns  following 
the  same  rule  rose  at  both  those  places. 

When  Bishop  Melcher  died,  December  20th,  1873,  at  the 
age  of  66,  his  Catholic  flock  of  sixty  thousand  had  sixty-nine 
churches  and  chapels  completed  and  in  progress,  with  fifty  six 
priests  to  guide  them  in  the  way  of  religion,  and  ample  provision 
for  schools. 

The  Very  Rev.  Edward  Daems  was  administrator  till  the  in- 
stallation of  the  Right  Rev.  Francis  Xavier  Krautbauer,  who 
was  consecrated  June  29th,  1875.  He  was  a  native  of  Bavaria, 
born  in  the  Diocese  of  Ratisbonne,  in  1824 ;  he  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1850,  and  was  ordained  the  same  year.  He 
had  been  a  zealous  missionary,  and,  at  the  time  of  his  election, 
was  pastor  of  the  Church  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Holy  Angels,  and 
director  of  the  mother  house  of  the  School  Sisters  of  Notre 
Dame,  Milwaukee. 

His  administration  shows  the  impulse  of  an  able  bishop. 
Schools^have  multiplied  ;  the  Capuchin  Fathers  have  founded  a 
house  ;  the  Polish  Sisters  of  St.  Felix  are  laborino-  amono-  their 
fellow  countrymen  ;  a  community  of  Beguines  appears  here  for 
the  first  time  in  America;  the  Winnebagots  and  Menomonees 
are  cared  for  ;  and  the  Word  of  God  is  announced  in  those 
Indian  languages,  in  English,  French,  German,  Bohemian,  Hol- 
landish,  Walloon,  and  Polish,  by  seventy  priests,  who  offer  up 
the  Holy  Sacrifice  in  the  hundred  and  three  churches  of  the 
Diocese  of  Green  Bay. 


■o&sjaiKjaaMi^aB 


600  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 


18G8. 

The  Diocese  of  La  Crosse  included  the  noiiliwest  portion  of 
the  State  of  Wisconsin,  bounded  south  and  east  by  the  river  of 
that  name.  The  only  ancient  setllement  within  it  is  Piairie  du 
Ohien,  where  a  French  post  began  about  1689,  a  few  years  after 
the  visits  of  Father  Marquette  and  Father  Hennepin  to  those 
parts.  A  settlement  began  not  long  after,  apparently,  and  was 
revived  by  De  Langlade  during  the  Revolution.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  present  century  there  was  a  small  village 
there,  chiefly  of  Canadian  origin.  The  first  Catholic  priest  who 
visited  Prairie  du  Chien  is  reported  to  have  been  a  Rev.  Mr. 
Priere,  from  St.  Louis,  in  1817.  Occasional  visits  followed,  but 
the  faith  nearly  died  out.  The  Dominican  Father  spent  some 
time  here  in  1832,  using  a  large  vacant  house  as  a  chapel, 
and  endeavoring  to  revive  faith  and  piety.  The  result  was  not 
very  consoling,  but  on  his  return  in  1835,  he  found  five  hun- 
dred Catholics  much  better  disposed,  and  during  Februar}^  and 
March  his  instructions  eftected  a  decided  change,  so  that  it  was 
resolved  to  erect  a  fine  stone  church,  fifty  feet  by  one  hundred. 
The  corner-stone  of  the  new  edifice,  dedicated  to  St.  Gabriel, 
was  laid  by  Bishop  Loras,  in  1839,  and  was  subsequently  at- 
tended by  Father  Mazzuchelli,  Rev.  A.  Ravoux,  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Cretin. 

From  the  commencement,  by  the  entrance  of  Catholic  emi- 
grants, Catholicity  developed  in  this  part  of  the  State  under  the 
care  of  Bishop  Henni ;  and,  when  it  was  set  apart  as  a  diocese, 
there  were  more  than  forty  churches  there,  although  the  labor 
of  ministering  to  the  scattered  Catholics  was  borne  by  only 
fiftet^n  priests. 

The  bishop  placed  by  His  Holiness  Pope  Pius  IX.  in  the  See 
of  La  Crosse  was  the  learned  Rev.  John  Michael  Heiss,  whose 
theological  works  had  already  won  a  high  reputation.     He  was 


IN"   THE   UNITED   STATES.  601 

a  native  of  POhmfcld  in  Bavaria,  born  on  the  19th  of  Angiist, 
1833,  but,  on  atiaiiiing  his  majoiity,  had  come  to  the  Uniied 
States,  where  he  was  ordained  in  1859. 

Since  his  insiaUalion  he  has  labored  zealously  in  behalf  of 
Christian  education.  He  established  the  Fianciscan  Si^teis  at 
LaCroj^se,  and  their  mother  house  sup[)lied  teachers  for  tweniy- 
five  parochial  schools,  and  two  asylums.  The  Christian  Brothers 
have  founded  St.  John's  College  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  the 
School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  teach  schools  in  that  place  and 
at  Eagle  Point. 

The  prifsts,  in  1878,  numbered  forty;  thirty-six  churches 
having  resident  pastors,  fifty  churches  being  visited  regularly ; 
the  whole  Catholic  population  being  forty-five  thousand. 


CHAPTER     XXXVIII. 

STATE  OF  MISSISSIPPI. 

Diocese  of  Natchez,  1837.— Early  History  — A  Capuchin  Mission— The  Massacre- 
Under  Spanish  Rule— Churcli— Precarious  Ministry— Pvight  Rev.  John  Mary  Joseph 
Chanche,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  James  Van  de  Velde.— Right  Rev.  William  H.  Elder, 
D.D.-Tellow  Fever  of  1873. 

The  only  part  of  the  original  Diocese  of  Baltimore  not  yet 
tiaced  down  is  that  embraced  in  the  States  of  Mississippi  and 
Alabama.  The  lower  part  of  those  States  was  included  in 
Florida,  the  upper  part  was  known  originally  as  Georgia  Western 
Territory.  In  the  Alabama  portion  Catholicity  was  well  nigh 
unknown,  thei'e  being  little  irace  of  the  eaily  missions,  and  no 
white  setilers  of  our  faith.  With  the  Mississippi  portion  it  was 
different.     This  had  its  Catholic  history. 

Here  Father  Marquette  and  Joliet  ended  their  voyaije  of 
discovery,   at   an   Arkansas   town    in   Mississippi,  near  Indian 


602  THE  CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Point.  The  Recollect  priests,  ou  La  Salle's  first  expedition,  also 
landed  in  these  par.s.  When  Iberville  brought  out  his  colony 
to  the  mouth  of  ilie  Mibsiti^sippi  he  ascended  to  the  home  of  the 
Natchez  tribe  and  picjectcd  a  city  of  Rosalie  there. 

The  Rev.  John  F.  Buisson  de  Come,  a  priest  from  the  Sem- 
inary of  Quebec,  began  to  labor  here  among  the  Natcliez 
Indians  in  1700,  and  continued  his  efiorts  to  christianize  them 
till  1707,  when  he  was  killed  by  the  Sitimacha  Indians  while 
he  was  descending  the  river.  The  Very  Rev.  Mi'.  Montigney, 
superior  of  the  mission,  bi^gan  to  preach  among  the  1  aensas, 
stationing  another  priest,  Mr.  Davion,  among  the  Tonicas  on 
the  Yazoo.  He  was  succeeded  there  by  the  Rev.  Nichohis 
Foucault,  who  was  killed  also  on  the  river  by  the  Indians. 

For  the  settlers  the  first  priests  were  the  Jesuit  Fathers  Paul 
du  Ru  and  Peter  Donge,  who  came  with  Iberville  in  1700,  and 
attended  Biloxi  and  the  Mississippi  fort,  and  those  afterward 
at  Mobile  and  Dauphine  Island.  Father  Donge  died  at  Mobile, 
in  1705,  and  Father  du  Ru  leturned  to  Europe.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
de  Vente  and  four  other  priests  airived  in  1704;  the  Rev. 
Francis  le  Mayre  being  the  first  chaplain  on  Dauphin  Island. 
The  Abbe  Juif  was  soon  after  stationed  at  Natchez,  where  a 
French  post  was  founded  in  1714;  the  Rev.  Daniel  Tetu  was 
killed  on  the  river  in  1718;  but,  in  1721,  when  Father  Charle- 
voix visited  these  parts,  there  was  apparently  no  priest  within 
the  piesHUt  State  except  at  Yazoo.  The  French  at  Natchez  had 
not  heard  mass  for  five  years  ;  and  although  Father  Charlevoix 
spent  some  time,  and  preached  eloquently,  few,  comparatively, 
approached  the  sactrameiits. 

His  report  led  to  improvement:  the  Capuchin  Fathers  were 
sent  out  to  act  as  chaplains  at  the  French  posts  and  settlements, 
and  Jesuit  Fathers  to  prosecute  Indian  missions. 

In  1727,  Father  John  Souel  was  laboring  among  the  Yazoos 
and  attending  the  French  colonists,  and  the  Capuchin  Father 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  603 

Philibcrt  was  chaplain  at  Natclicz.  While  the  French  were  in 
perfect  security  the  Natchez  plotted  a  general  massacre.  On 
S  itunlay  preceding  the  appointed  Monday  the  Jesuit  Father 
du  Pois>on,  missionary  to  the  Arkansas,  stopped  on  his  way 
down  the  river  at  Natchez.  The  chaplain  being  absent,  the 
peojtle  asked  him  to  remain  over  Sunday;  he  did  so,  and 
preached  from  the  (iospel  of  the  first  Sunday  of  Advent — a 
warning  which  proved  of  tenible  import.  The  next  day,  while 
he  was  carrying  the  viaticum  to  some  sick  persons,  the  Natchez 
rose.  A  general  massacre  of  the  French  ensued.  The  chari- 
table Father  Poisson  was  tomahawked  and  beheaded.  The 
Yazoos  enacted  a  similar  scene,  and  shot  their  devoted  mission- 
ary, Souel,  on  the  11th  of  December  ;  and  attempted  to  cut  otF 
Father  Doutreleau,  who  was  descending  the  river  from  Illinois. 
Two  weeks  after  his  death  a  woman,  whose  life  was  spaied, 
found  Father  Souel's  body,  still  entire,  and  induced  the  Indians 
to  bury  it. 

Not  a  priest  was  left  in  the  territory  now  known  as  Mis- 
sissippi, and  the  war  with  the  Natchez  and  Chickasaws  pre- 
vented all  settlements.  When  peace  was  restored  Jievv  posts 
arose,  and  the  Jesuits  pushed  missions  among  the  Alibamons 
and  Choctaws. 

A  church  was  restored  at  Natchez  and  maintained  till  the  fall 
of  the  French  power.  TheSpaniards,  who  then  obtained  Louisiana, 
at  first  took  possessioM  of  this  part ;  and,  in  1787,  the  Spanish 
Govermnent  applied  to  the  Bishop  of  Salamanca,  who  selected 
four  priests  from  the  Irish  college  there,  three  of  whom.  Rev. 
Messrs.  Mi;Kenna,  Savage,  and  White,  reached  Natchez  and 
beg m  their  ministry.  A  commodious  house  was  set  apart  for 
the  missionaries,  and  a  church  at  once  erected.  Another  church 
was  built  at  Cole's  Creek,  or  Villa  Gayoso;  but,  in  a  few  years, 
the  eastern  shore  of  the  Mississippi  was  recognized  as  American. 
When  the  Spaniards  retired  these  churches  were  placed  in  the 


604  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

care  of  Joseph  Vidal,  Esq.,  Spanish  consul.  Bishop  Carroll, 
informed  of  the  state  of  atiairs,  attempted  to  save  the  church 
property,  but  apparently  in  vain.  Bisho[)  Pcualver  at  New 
Orleans,  explaining'  the  situation  to  Bithop  Carroll,  kindly 
offered  his  aid,  and,  at  Bi^llop  Carroll's  request,  ;illo\ved  his 
priests,  especially  the  Rev.  Francis  Lennon  and  llcv.  Mr.  Boudin, 
to  attend  the  Natchez  Catholics. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Matthew  O'Brien,  of  New  York,  was  appointed  to 
Ncitchez,  in  1801,  but  declined  to  go;  and  the  Catholics  of  the 
jDlace  had  to  depend  upon  chance  visits  of  priests  till  1819,  when 
a  priest  from  Kentucky  obtained  a  chalice  and  vestments  from 
New  Orleans  and  began  a  regular  service.  The  Rev.  A.  Blanc 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Maenh;iut  came  the  following  year,  and  the  latter 
was  the  first  settled  pastor  for  many  years.  Mississippi  was  now 
virtually,  if  not  formally,  part  of  the  Diocese  of  New  Orleans. 

The  Church  of  the  Holy  Family,  on  Commerce  Sireet,  re- 
paired by  the  bequest  of  a  pious  Spaniard  in  1817,  was  finally 
destroyed  by  fire,  December  28th,  1832;  and  a  temporary 
chapel  or  a  hired  hall  was  the  only  resource  for  the  priests  visit- 
ing the  place,  for  Natchez  remained  for  many  years  without  a 
resident  pastor. 

It  seemed  that  if  anything  was  to  be  done  for  religion  in  the 
State  it  could  be  only  by  the  fervor  enkindled  by  a  bidiop  resid- 
ino-  there.  Accordingly  His  Holiness  Pope  Gregory  XVL,  Jnly 
2Sth,  1837,  established  the  See  of  Natchez.  The  Rev.  Thomas 
Ilayden  was  appointed  the  first  bishop,  bnt,  on  his  declining,  the 
Rev.  John  Mary  Joseph  Chanche,  born  in  Baltimore,  October 
4th,  1795,  a  Siilpitian,  who  had,  as  professor  jind  president  of 
St.  Mary's  College,  Baltimore,  acquired  a  high  reputation,  was 
appointed,  and  consecrated  March  14th,  1841. 

On  arriving  at  Natchez  he  assembled  the  ])rincipal  Catholics 
to  ascertain  their  readiness  to  erect  a  church,  proposing  to  fix 
his  residence  elsewhere  if  there  seemed  a  lack  of  proper  dispo- 


I2T    THE    UNITED    STATES.  605 

sitions.  Ground  was  at  once  conveyed  to  him  for  the  cathedral ; 
he  then  proceeded  north  to  obtain  necessary  vestments,  altar 
stones,  and  sacred  vessels  for  his  missions,  and  to  collect  means, 
lie  laid  the  fonndation  stone  of  the  Cathedral  of  the  Ti-ansfixed 
Heart  of  the  Blessed  and  Immaculate  Mary  ever  Virgin,  on  the 
24th  of  February,  1842. 

Meanwhile  a  considerable  number  of  Catholics  had  settled  at 
Yicksburg,  where  the  Rev.  Mr.  D.  O'lleilly  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  1839.  In  the  south,  Bay  St.  Louis,  Biloxi,  and  Pasca- 
goula  were  vit^ited  from  New  Orleans  and  Mobile.  In  1842,  a 
priest  began  his  labors  at  Paulding,  where  a  church  was  erected 
in  the  following  year.  The  Rev,  Mr.  Miiller  gathered  a  con- 
gregation at  Jackson,  and  visited  Canton  and  Brandon  ;  and,  in 
1843,  the  bishop  was  able  to  place  a  priest  in  the  south,  who 
roused  the  Catholics  to  begin  churches  at  Bay  of  St.  Louis, 
Pass  Christian,  and  Biloxi,  Then  Yazoo  City,  Grand  Gulf,  and 
Pert  Gibson  endeavored  to  erect  churches.  But,  with  all  the 
zeal  and  sacrifices  of  the  learned  and  eloquent  bishop,  progress 
was  very  slow.  In  1848,  there  were  churches  only  at  Nat- 
chez, Vicksburg,  Jackson,  Paulding,  and  Camden  ;  but  Bishop 
Chanche  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  Sisters  of  Charity,  who 
opened  an  orphan  asylum  and  school  at  Natchez,  The  esti- 
mated Catholic  population  about  this  time  was  seven  thousand. 
After  a  few  years  there  was  an  inciease  of  a  few  thousand 
in  the  Catholic  population  ;  Yazoo  had  a  church,  another  was 
building  at  Columbus,  and  St.  Mary's  Collegiate  Institute  was 
opened  at  Natchez, 

Bishop  Chanche,  a  man  fitted  to  shine  among  the  learned  or 
in  the  grand  ceremonial  of  the  Church,  buried  his  talents  in 
this  obscure  and  laborious  field,  zealously  serving  as  a  mission- 
ary priest,  building  up  with  no  resonices  a  new  Catholic  diocese, 
"Where  he  had  found  not  a  church  or  priest  he  left  eKn'en 
churches  and  ten  priests.     After  attending  the  Council  of  Balti- 


606  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

more,  in  1852,  he  was  seized  with  cholera  morbus  at  Frederick, 
Maryland,  and  died  piously  on  the  22d  of  July. 

The  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  of  New  Orleans  then  administered 
the  dioce.se  until  the  arrival  of  the  KigliL  Rev.  James  Oliver  Van 
de  Vehle,  who  was  transferred  from  Chicago  to  Natchez,  July 
29th,  1853,  but  was  detained  in  his  former  diocese,  so  that  he 
did  not  reach  Natchez  till  the  close  of  November.  He  made  a 
visitation  of  his  diocese,  and  endeavored  to  obtain  good  priests; 
he  erected  schools,  introduced  the  Brothers  of  Christian  Instruc- 
tion and  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  carried  on  the  work  of  the  ca- 
thedral, and  purchased  ground  for  a  college.  His  labois  were 
abruptly  terminated.  By  an  accident  he  broke  his  leg,  and, 
while  thus  prostrated,  was  seized  by  yellow  fever,  and  died  No- 
vember 13th,  1855. 

The  diocese  was  again  administered  by  the  Archbishop  of 
New  Orleans.  The  Right  Rev.  William  Henry  Elder,  a  na- 
tive of  Baltimore,  was  consecrated  May  3d,  1857.  He  had 
studied  at  Mount  St.  Mary's  and  at  Rome  ;  and  had  been  one  of 
the  faculty  and  afterward  President  of  Mount  St.  Mary's  Col- 
lej^e,  Emmettsburg.  He  devoted  him  wholly  to  his  diocese,  to 
extend  the  benefits  of  religion  to  his  flock,  and  evinced  a  courage 
and  self-devotedness  that  won  him  the  respect  of  all.  In  the 
midst  of  his  labors  the  civil  war  came  on,  and  his  diocese  was 
the  scene  of  some  of  the  severest  engagements  of  the  terrible 
strife.  In  the  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded  the  bishop,  and 
his  small  body  of  clergy,  with  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  were  unre- 
mitting; and  the  Rev.  B.  Elia  died  in  his  charitable  mission, 
in  February,  1863.  The  next  year  the  post  commandant  at 
Natchez  ordered  all  clergymen  to  pray  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  On  this  Bishop  Elder  remonstrated,  taking 
the  broad  ground,  that  the  Government  had  no  power  to  ap- 
point or  alter  the  liturgy  and  services  of  the  Church.  But 
Colonel  Farrar   ordered   the  Catholic  bishop    to   be    arrested 


IN  THE   UKITED   STATES.  G07 

for  refusing  to  pray  in  public  for  an  avowed  infidel,  who  liad 
written  a  work  against  Cluibtianity.  Bishop  Eider  was  con- 
veyed to  Vidalia,  L:i.,  and  detained  tlierc  uniil  General  Bray- 
man  revoked  the  order,  in  terms  grossly  insulting  to  the  viclim 
of  the  outrage. 

In  1878,  the  diocese  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  war, 
and  Bishop  Elder,  who  had  just  been  appointed  coadjutor  to 
the  Archbishop  of  San  Francisco,  had,  in  the  Diocese  of  Nat- 
chez, forty-one  churclies,  with  thirty-two  priests,  and  a  Catholic 
population  of  more  than  twelve  thousand.  The  Redemptorist 
Fathers  established  a  convent  at  Chatawa;  the  Brother's  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  liad  a  flourishing  institution  ;  St.  Stanislaus'  Com- 
mercial College,  at  Shieldsboruugh,  Bay  St.  Louis;  the  Sisters 
of  Charity  and  St.  Joseph  liad  extended  their  institutions;  the 
Sisters  of  Mercy,  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  and  Sisters  of  Charity 
from  Nazareth,  had  academies  and  schools  at  Vicksburg,  Biloxi, 
Chatawa,  Holly  Springs,  and  Yazoo  City. 

In  the  summer  the  terrible  yellow  fever  spread  from  New 
Orleans  to  various  points  of  the  Diocese  of  Natchez.  The  Rev. 
Patrick  Cogan,  Rev.  A.  Oberti,  John  Vitolo,  Sister  Agnes, 
Sister  Laurentia,  and  others,  died  attending  the  sick. 

When  the  fever  was  at  last  checked,  the  flock  was  scattered 
and  destitute. 

We  thus  close  our  sketches  of  the  Diocese  of  Baltimore,  and 
of  the  forty-one  archbishoprics  and  bishoprics,  and  the  vicariate- 
apostolic,  now  formed  out  of  the  territory  originally  subject  to 
the  episcopal  care  of  Bishop  Carroll,  containing  altogether  more 
than  four  thousand  priests  and  churches.  There  is  not  in  the 
ecclesiastical  history  a  more  remarkable  develo])ment  within  a 
century  and  the  pontificntes  of  six  popes.  Opposition  there 
has  been,  slight  persecutions  there  have  been,  but  in  a  period  sig- 
nalized by  the  most  bitter  war  on  religion  in  the  old  world,  and 
the  so-called  Catholic  states  of  the  new  world,  the  Church  in 


608  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  United  Slates  has  been,  we  mnst  thank  God,  free  to  pnrsne 
herg-lorions  mission,  calling  all  to  the  highest  standard  ofiiioiai 
excellence,  to  be  all  that  an  earthly  state  can  ask  in  her  best 
citizens,  and  to  be  hereafter  found  worthy  of  being  citizens  in 
the  kingdom  of  God. 


CHAPTER     XXXIX. 

STATE  OF  LOUISIANA. 


Diocese  of  New  Otileans,  1823.— Early  Religious  History— Under  the  Bishops  of 
Quebec  — Divided  between  Carmelites,  Catuchins,  and  Jesuits  — Troubles— The 
Colony  ceded— Violent  action  on  the  Suppression  of  the  Society  of  Jesus :  Churches 
razed  to  the  ground— Spanish  regime— Bishop  Auxiliar  of  Cuba— Bishopric  of  Louis- 
iana erected— liight  Rev.  Louis  Penalvcr  y  Cardenas— Right  Rev.  William  Dubourg, 
D.D.— Right  Rev.  Dr.  Rosati,  Administrator— Right  Rev.  Leo  de  Neckere,  D.D.— 
Most  Rev.  Anthony  Blanc,  D.D.,  first  Archbishop— Most  Rev.  J.  B.  Odin,  D.D.— Most 
Rev.  N.  A.  Perche,  D.D. 

Diocese  of  Natchitoches,  1853.— Natchitoches  and  Adayes— French  and  Spanish- 
Yen.  F.  Margil-Right  Rev.  A.  Martin,  D.D.,  first  Bishop— Eight  Rev.  F.  X.  Leray, 
D.D. 

By  the  treaty  of  April  30th,  1803,  France  conveyed  to  the 
United  States  the  colony  of  Louisiana.  Ecclesiastically,  it  was 
already  a  diocese,  the  Bishop  of  Louisiana  exeici>ing  jurisdic- 
tion from  the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  shores  of 
the  Pacific,  and  from  the  British  border  line  south  to  vague 
Spanish  limits.  What  Baltimore  was  to  the  East,  New  Orleans 
was  to  the  West»  in  a  minor  degree.  Bishoprics^  archbishoprics, 
and  vicariates-apostolic  have  been  created  in  the  vast  territory 
once  embi'aced  in  the  Diocese  of  Louisiana. 

The  colony  had  been  settled  by  the  French,  and  the  first  mis- 
sionaries were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec, 
whose  spiritual  rule  was  recognized  from  Hudson  Bay  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 

Spain  had,  in  earlier  times,  sent  expeditions  which  had  crossed 


i:n'  the  ui^ited  states.  609 

the  territory  in  weal  or  woe,  with  clerGfvnicn  ministering  to  tlic 
troops,  but  their  presence  was  only  tiansitory.  Father  Marquette, 
in  his  voyage,  advanced  to  the  mouth  of  ihe  Arkansas,  not  reach- 
ing the  present  Louisiana. 

When  La  Salle  planted  the  cross  at  the  mouth  of  tlie  Mis- 
sissippi, in  1G82,  and  mass  was  said  by  the  Recollect  Father 
Zenobe  Membre,  the  Church  in  the  present  State  began  her 
history.  Iberville,  in  1699,  began  the  colony  of  Louisiana, 
building  a  Utile  fort  at  Biloxi,  and  another  soon  after  near  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  Father  Anastasius  Douay,  Recollect,  ac- 
companied him  on  his  first  voyage  ;  and  the  Jesuits,  Du  Ru  and 
Donge,  in  1700.  The  latter  died  at  Mobile,  and  the  former, 
having  excited  the  ill-will  of  Sauvolle  the  governor,  returned  to 
Europe.  The  Rev.  Mr.  de  la  Vente,  of  the  Seminary  of  For- 
eign Missions,  came  as  parish  priest,  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  le 
Mayre  as  chaplain  of  the  fort  of  Mobile,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  liure 
as  missionary,  and  another  priest,  and  two  Gray  Nuns,  in  July, 
1701.  But  the  people  were  careless:  few  approached  the  sacra- 
ments, even  at  Easter  ;  and,  in  1714,  La  Motte  Cadillac  asked  the 
Government  to  build  a  church,  the, colonists  of  Mobile  having 
taken  no  steps  to  erect  a  building  v/orthy  of  the  worship  of  God. 

To  check  the  licentiousness  that  began  to  prevail,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  de  la  Vente  asked  authority  to  marry  Fiench  settlers  to 
converted  Indian  women,  but,  though  this  was  done  in  Canada, 
the  Government  refused  to  permit  it  in  Louisiana. 

Li  1718,  New  Orleans  was  founded,  and  became  the  capital  of 
the  colony.  A  church  and  hospital  were  erected  here,  but  were 
destroyed  by  a  hurricane 

The  visit  of  Father  Charlevoix,  in  1721,  showed  the  spiri- 
tual destitution  of  Louisiana;  and  the  Company  of  the  Indies, 
which  assumed  direction  of  affairs,  was  required  to  make  proper 
arrangements. 

In  the  year  1722,  the  Council,  with  the  consent  of  the  Bishop 


610  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

of  Quebec,  divided  Louisiana  into  three  spiritual  jurisdictions, 
each  to  be  assigned  to  a  religious  order.  The  Capuchin  Fa: hers 
of  the  piovince  of  Champagne  were  to  attend  to  all  the  settle- 
ments and  missions  west  of  the  Mississippi,  from  its  month  to  a 
point  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  ;  the  su|)erior  ot'  the  mis- 
sion to  be  Vicar-General  of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  and  reside  at 
New  Orleans. 

The  eastern  shore  of  the  river,  from  the  Ohio  to  the  Gulf,  was 
confided  to  the  CarmeHte  Fathers,  whose  superior  was  to  reside 
at  Mobile. 

The  part  of  Louisiana  north  of  the  hititude  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Ohio  was  to  remain  under  the  control  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers, 
whose  superior  was  to  be  Vicav-General  for  the  district. 

The  Carmelite  Fathers  began  their  mission  at  Mobile,  but 
failed  to  give  satisfaction,  and  were,  probably,  unable  to  supply 
suitable  missionaries  for  the  many  Indian  tribes  in  the  district. 
The  Bishop  of  Quebec,  December  19th,  1722,  by  a  formal  act, 
united  their  jurisdiction  to  that  of  the  Capuchin  Fathers. 

The  whole  southern  valley  of  the  Mississippi  was  thus  under 
the  care  of  these  Fathers  of  the  Order  of  St.  Frimcis.  The  Rev. 
Fa; her  Raphael  was  Vicar-General  and  parish  priest  of  New 
Orleans,  with  Father  Hyacinth  as  curate,  and  Father  Cecilius 
as  schoolmaster;  Fathers  were  stationed  at  Choupitoulas,  the 
German  settlement,  Belize,  Natchitoches,  Natchez;  and  Father 
Matthias  succeeded  the  Cai'melites  at  Mobile.  The  Apalache 
mission  near  it,  winch  had  bvcn  under  Rev.  Mr  Ilure,  wr.s  placed 
in  the  care  of  the  Recollect  Father  A^ictorin. 

The  important  field  of  the  Indian  tribes  was  thus  unprovided. 
The  secular  priests  from  Canada  had  all  retired  but  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Davion,  after  showing  zeal  and  heroism  in  the  service. 
Those  who  remained  in  the  Illinois  country  devoted  themselves 
to  the  French,  leaving  tlic  Indian  missions  to  the  Jesuits.  As 
the  only  body  who  seemed  to  have  priests  specially  fitted  for 


IN"  THE   UNITED   STATES.  611 

this  important  work,  tlie  Society  of  Jesus  was  applied  to,  their 
district  extending  to  and  including  all  north  of  Natchez  ;  and 
finally,  in  1726,  the  whole  Indian  missions  of  Louisiana  were 
assigned  to  them,  a  residence  of  their  Fathers  at  New  Orleans 
heino-  authorized.  By  the  influence  of  Father  de  Beaubois, 
Superior  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  arrangements  were  made  with 
the  Ursuline  Nuns  to  found  an  hospital,  and  in  time  an  academy, 
at  New  Orleans.  Under  this  the  Jesuit  Fathers  Paul  du  Poisson, 
Mathurin  le  Petit,  and  John  Souel  came  over  in  1726,  followed 
by  Fathers  Guyenne,  Boudouin  and  others.  They  began  mis- 
sions among  the  Arkansas,  Oumas,  Choctaws,  Albamons,  Yazoos, 
Coroas,  and  other  tribes.  The  Capuchin  Fathers  continued  their 
labors  in  the  French  settlements  ;  and  the  Ursuline  Mother  Mary 
de  Tranchepain,  a  convert  from  Protestantism,  founded  the  still 
subsisting  convent  in  New  Orleans. 

All  were  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec, 
whose  Vicar-General  was  at  first  the  Superior  of  the  Capuchins; 
but,  finding  that  the  Capuchins  seemed  to  give  little  heed  to  a 
distant  bishop  whom  they  had  never  seen,  the  Bishop  of  Quebec 
subsequently  made  the  Superior  of  the  Jesuit  missions  Vicar- 
General.     This,  however,  led  to  great  dissension  and  trouble. 

Jesuit  and  Capuchin  in  time  left  Louisiana;  but  the  Ursuline 
Nuns,  who  so  heroically  came  to  the  colony  on  the  23d  of  July, 
1727,  have  never  ceased  their  labors  and  prayers  for  the  public 
good. 

The  Jesuits  soon  added  to  the  roll  of  martyrs.  The  miscon- 
duct of  the  French  commandant  at  Natchez  had  roused  that 
highly  advanced  ti"ibe  to  vengeance.  We  have  already,  in 
treating  of  the  Diocese  of  Natchez,  told  the  sad  story. 

About  1752,  the  appointment  of  the  Jesuit:  Father  Baudouin 
as  Vicar-General  excited  opposition  from  the  Capuchins,  and 
the  colony  became  arrayed  in  two  parlies,  one  upholding  each 
of  the  orders. 


612  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

In  1763,  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  the  object  of  the  bitter 
attack  of  the  profligate  court  of  Louis  XV.  To  ape  the  irre- 
ligious at  home  the  Council  of  Louisiana  cited  the  Jesuits 
to  produce  their  Institute  before  tljcm.  On  the  9th  of  July, 
these  few  men,  utterly  unversed  in  canon  law,  or  the  laws  of  the 
Church,  declared  the  Institute  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  which 
had  been  approved  by  a  long  series  of  popes,  and  by  a  general 
council,  to  be  hostile  to  the  royal  authority,  to  the  rigiits  of 
bishops,  to  the  public  peace  and  safety.  Had  they  rested  here 
the  absurdity  might  have  refuted  itself;  but  they  forbade  the 
Jesuits  to  wear  their  habit ;  ordered  all  their  property  to  be 
seized  and  sold  at  auction  ;  the  vestments  and  plate  of  the 
chapel  at  New  Orleans  to  be  given  to  the  Capuchins ;  those  in 
the  Illinois  country  to  be  delivered  to  the  king's  attorney  :  after 
TN'hich  all  their  chapels  were  to  be  razed  to  the  ground. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  conceive  such  damning  infamy  in 
men  who  pretended  to  be  Catholics,  but  they  really,  thus  cruelly, 
ordered  the  destruction  of  the  only  Catholic  churches  in  many 
parts. 

The  Jesuit  Fathers  were  all  ordered  to  be  sent  out  of  the 
country.  Most  of  them  at  once  withdrew:  Father  Baudouin, 
Superior  of  the  Missions,  a  man  of  seventy-two,  broken  by 
thirty  years'  labor  in  Louisiana,  was  allowed  to  remain,  as  he 
was  a  Canadian,  with  no  friends  in  France ;  Father  Meurin  was 
also  allowed  to  remain,  and  take  charge  of  the  mission  of  St. 
Genevieve  and  Cahokia,  after  binding  himself  to  implicit  obe- 
dience to  the  Capuchin  superior  of  New  Orleans. 

The  French  powei',  however,  soon  vanished.  Louis  XV., 
having  lost  Canada,  ceded  Louisiana  to  Spain  ;  and,  after  a  brief 
effort  to  escape  a  foreign  rule,  Louisiana  was  reduced  by  O'Reilly. 
The  Bishop  of  Quebec,  finding  it  more  impossible  than  ever  to 
govern  that  remote  part  of  his  flo^k,  appealed  to  the  Holy  See 
to  deliver  him  from  the  responsibility.     No  step  was  imme- 


IN"  THE   UNITED   STATES.  G13 

diately  taken,  and  religion  languislicd  for  several  ycnrs.  About 
177G,  the  Bishop  of  Santiago  do  Cuba,  whose  jurisdiction  on 
the  niainhmd  already  extended  over  Florida,  was  recognized  as 
bisliop  throughout  Louibia^a  ;  and  liis  bishop  auxiliar,  wlio  had 
made  a  visitation  of  the  churches  and  missions  in  Florida,  pro- 
ceeded to  visit  Louisiana,  which  was  for  the  first  time  blessed 
with  the  presence  of  a  bishop.  Being  himself  a  Capuchin,  he 
introduced  Spanish  Fathers  of  his  order,  and  did  much  to  n-pair 
the  ravages  vice  and  irrcligion  had  caused.  The  presence  of  a 
bishop  was  a  consolation  to  the  good  ;  but  it  was  soon  evident 
that  so  vast  a  territory  required  the  erection  of  an  episcopal  see. 
The  exiled  Acadians  from  St.  Domingo  and  elsewhere  reached 
Louisiana  in  numbers,  settling  the  country  which  perpetuates 
the  name  of  their  unhappy  province.  The  parish  of  St.  Michael 
grew  up  and  was  directed  by  the  Capuchin  Father  Prosper. 
Matters  seemed  to  prepare  for  the  erection  of  a  sec  at  New 
Orleans.  A  wealthy  Spaniard,  Don  Andres  Almone?ter,  having, 
for  certain  rights  and  privileges  granted  by  the  king,  undertaken 
to  erect  a  parish  church  and  pastoral  residence  by  the  month  of 
August,  1793.  The  work  was  indeed  delayed  ;  but,  by  the 
close  of  that,  year,  the  fa9ade  and  the  four  walls  of  the  church 
were  erected. 

Tlie  Holy  Father,  seeing  the  necessity  of  the  colony,  and  the 
provision  made  by  the  Spanish  king  for  the  support  of  a  bisliop, 
established  the  Diocese  of  Louisiana  on  the  12th  day  of 
September,  1703,  making  the  bishop  suffragan  of  the  pro- 
vince of  S;in  Dom'.ngo.  As  the  first  bishop  he  appointed  Don 
Louis  Peiialver  y  Cardenas,  of  a  distinguished  Havana  family,  a 
man  of  piety,  learning,  and  extraordinary  benevolence  towards 
the  poor.  The  auxiliar  bishop  retired  on  a  pension  to  his  native 
city,  where  he  died.  The  arrival  of  Bisliop  Penalver,  expected 
with  anxif'ty  by  the  colonial  authorities,  was  an  event  of  impor- 
tance.    He  was  consecrated  in  1793,  and  began   at  once  to  in- 


614  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

troduce  system  and  order  into  the  affairs  of  the  church  ;  and,  by 
the  full  powers  with  which  he  was  invested,  checked  m.my 
abuses  thut  had  crept  in.  He  cooperated  with  Bishop  Can  oil, 
aiding-  him  by  supplying  priests  at  Natchez,  and  in  regulating- 
missions  farther  up  the  river.  His  administration  was  too  short, 
and,  in  180;2,  he  was  promoted  to  the  archiepiscopal  See  of 
Guatemala.  The  Rev.  Francis  Porro  was  appointed  to  succeed 
him  ;  but  the  wave  of  French  Revolution  sweeping  over  Europe 
involved  all  in  confusion  :  the  bishop  elect  was  never  cousecrated. 
Spain  yielded  up  Louisiana  to  France,  and  Dr.  Porro  died.  The 
Vicar-General  of  New  Orleans,  Rev.  Thomas  Hasset,  followed 
in  180i.  The  future  of  Catholicity  in  Louisiana,  under  the 
French  Republic  looked  gloomy  enough,  when  the  cession  of  the 
colony  to  the  United  States  placed  it  in  a  new  position.  Most 
of  the  Spanish  priests,  and  all  the  Spanish  Ursulines,  withdrew 
from  the  province.  The  remaining  religious,  with  no  immediate 
superior  to  decide  on  the  best  course  to  pursue,  wrote  to  the 
Holv  Father,  who  encouraged  them  to  remain. 

There  had  not  been  equal  deference  to  the  Holy  See  in  all. 
Strife  at  once  began  :  there  were  several  claimants  for  the 
parish,  scandalous  scenes  in  the  church^ appeals  to  the  courts  ot 
law,  and  the  usual  absurd  pretensions  of  trustees,  who  even  sent 
to  France  to  induce  Napoleon  to  recommend  Father  Sedilla  to 
the  Pope  as  bishop. 

To  meet  the  wants  of  the  Church  the  Holy  See  saw  no 
better  plan  than  to  assign  the  administration  of  the  Diocese  of 
Louisiana  to  the  venerable  Bishop  Carroll.  That  founder  of  tlu^ 
American  hierarchy,  conscious  that  his  original  diocese  was  far 
beyond  his  ability,  had  sought  its  division,  and  was  naturally 
appalled  at  the  new  burthen.  Ordinary  jurisdiction  over  the 
diocese,  with  the  power  to  delegate  to  auy  priest  he  might 
select,  was  conferred  upon  him  in  1805.  The  administration 
involved  delicate  points.     With  a  new  population  introduced 


Iiq-  THE  UXITED  STATES.  615 

into  the  United  States,  lie  had  to  act  in  a  way  tliat  would  rxcite 
no  piejndice  in  the  minds  of  Americans,  and  yet  manage  to 
restore  order  in  the  diocese  without  increasing  the  unfriendly 
feeling  entertained  towaids  Americans. 

He  appointed  the  Rev.  John  B.  Olivier  his  vicar-general, 
whose  authority  was  recognized  out  of  New  Orleans.  There  ¥. 
Antonio  Sedilhi  and  his  party  maintained  a  kind  of  independence 
of  all  authority. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Sibourd,  who  arrived  in  Decenibcr,  1810,  did 
much  good,  preaching  in  French  at  the  Ursuline  chapel,  and 
endeavoring  to  colled  English-speaking  Catholics  there  to  hear 
instructions  in  that  language.  He  catechised  the  young,  and 
prepared  a  class  for  first  communion.  This  roused  the  pastor  of 
the  parish  chuich  to  do  the  same. 

The  captivity  of  Pope  Pius  VIT.  prevented  the  appointment 
of  a  bishop  ;  and,  in  1812,  Archbishop  Carroll,  by  virtue  of 
Apostolic  Briefs,  appointed  the  Rev.  William  Dubourg  adminis- 
•trator-apostidic.  On  visiting  the  diocese,  and  ascertaining  ex- 
actly its  wants  and  difficulties,  he  found  religion  at  a  low  ebb. 
The  Easter  communions  had  dwindled  to  two  or  three  hun- 
dred. He  found  it  almost  impossible  to  make  any  improvement 
amid  the  din  of  war  and  the  English  attack  on  that  city.  After 
that  he  proceeded  to  Europe  to  obtain  the  necessary  aid,  and 
to  lay  before  the  Holy  See  a  full  report.  His  departure  was 
the  occasion  of  new  trouble.  Sedilla  refused  to  recognize  Dr. 
Sibourd  as  viear-genei-al,  antl  assumed  to  act  as  such. 

The  zeal  for  the  success  of  Geneial  Jackson  at  New  Orleans, 
and  the  high  compliments  paid  him  by  that  commander,  had 
given  Di-.  Dubourg  a  prestige  with  Americans,  which  made 
his  appoiniment  as  bishop  one  calculated  to  produce  great  good. 
Archbishop  Carroll  recommended  it,  and  His  Holiness  Pius  VH. 
appointed  him  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Rome.  He  was  consecrated 
there  September  24th,  1815,  and  his  appeals  to  the  Christian 


616  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

charity  of  France  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Association  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  one  of  ihe  wonders  of  our  century. 
He  returned  to  the  United  States,  in  1817,  with  five  priests,  and 
twenty-six  young  men  intended  for  the  priesthood  or  religious 
state.'  Fathers  de  Andicis  and  Rosaii  were  Priests  of  the  Mis- 
sion, who  came  to  found  a  community  of  their  order.  New  Or- 
leans had  shown  such  opposition  that  he  took  possession  of  his 
diocese  at. St.  Genevieve,  in  December.  St.  Louis  became  the 
residence  of  the  Bishop  of  Louisiana,  though  he  annually  visited 
the  city  of  New  Orleans.  Gradually  a  better  feeling  prevailed, 
and,  having  obtained  a  coadjutor  to  whom  he  could  confide  the 
many  important  works  which  he  had  inaugurated  in  upper 
Louisiana,  he  proceeded,  in  1824,  to  New  Orleans,  which  thus, 
at  last,  beheld  a  successor  to  Bishop  Penalver  enthroned.  The 
Ursuline  Nuns,  who  had,  amid  all  troubles  and  trials,  maintained 
their  holy  work  for  a  century,  keeping  alive  a  spirit  of  faith,  and, 
by  their  devotion  to  Our  Lady  of  Prompt  Succor,  saving  it  in 
the  hour  of  peril,  had  in  their  day  of  trial  been  aided  by  the 
bishop,  who  sent  them  postulants  from  Europe,  and  obtained 
nunsfiom  the  Canadian,  convents.  They  had  now  erected  a  new 
convent  witliout  the  city,  and  their  ancient  building  became  the 
residence  of  the  bishop,  and  a  college.  He  was  not,  however, 
long  permitted  to  continue  his  work.  He  was  transferred  to  the 
See  of  Montauban  in  France. 

Bishop  Ro^ati,  consecrated  Bishop  of  Tenagre,  at  Donaldson- 
ville,  March  25th,  1824,  then  assumed  the  administration,  and 
took  up  his  residence  in  New  Orleans,  until  he  was  translated  to 
the  See  of  St.  Louis,  in  1827. 

The  Rev.  Leo  de  Neckere,  a  Belgian  priest  who  had,  as  a 
seminarian,  accompanied  Bishop  Dnbourg  from  Europe,  in  1817, 
w\as  appointed  Bishop  of  New  Orleans,  August  4th,  1829.  His 
feeble  health  made  him  endeavor  to  avoid  the  heavy  burthen, 
but  he  was  finally  consecrated  at  the  cathedral  of  New  Orleans, 


IN  THE    UNITED   STATES.  C17 

June  24tb,  1830.  He  devoted  liiinseif  to  the  good  of  Lis  dio- 
cese, and  convened  the  first  diocesan  synod  in  183;^,  in  rod uei no- 
wise regulations,  but  soon  souglit,  a  coadjutor.  His  holy  lif^ 
and  zeal  were  in  themselves  living  sermons,  and  when  the  yellow 
lever  scourged  the  ciiy,  he  returned  from  a  spot  where  lie  had 
gone  to  recruit  his  failing  health,  and  labored  among  the  sick 
an(,l  dying  till  he  expired,  September  4th,  1833. 

At  this  time  there  were  in  New  Orleans,  besides  the  cathe- 
dral, St.  Mary's,  St.  Anthony's,  and  St.  Margaret's,  and  the 
Church  of  the  Presentation,  at  the  Ursuline  Convent,  was  only 
two  miles  below  the  city.  Other  churches  had  arisen  at  the 
Plains,  at  Jackson,  Fausse  Riviere,  and  Yermilionville.  The 
Sisters  of  Charity  had  opened  an  orphan  asyhim,  hospital,  and 
free  school  ;  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  had  a  second 
academy.  There  were  in  all  twenty-two  priests,  and  twenty- 
seven  churches,  and  a  Catholic  population  estimated  at  150,000. 

The  State  of  Louisiana  then  contained  eighteen  ecclesiastical 
parishes:  New  Orleans  with  its  cathedral — a  large  b)ick  struc- 
ture with  three  towers,  standing  in  the  centre  of  a  square,  with 
a  fine  view  of  the  Mississippi ;  St.  Bernard,  St.  Charles,  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  St.  James,  St.  Michael,  Ascension,  Assump- 
tion, St.  Jose[)h,  St.  Gabriel,  Baton  Ronge,  Pointe  Coupee,  St. 
Martin,  St.  Mary,  St.  Landry,  St.  Charles  Borromeo,  Avoyelle, 
and  Natchitoches: 

A  college,  under  the  Very  Rev.  B.  Martial,  had  begun  near 
the  city  ;  and  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  had  opened  an 
academy  at  Opelousas,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Charles  Borromeo. 

The  Right  Rev.  Antoine  Blanc  had  been  recommended  by 
Bishop  Nedcerc  for  the  coadjutorship,  but  declined  positively, 
returning  the  bulls  to  Rome.  He  became  administrator  of  the 
diocese  on  the  bishop's  death;  and  when  the  Abbe  Jeanjean 
refused  the  mitre  he  was  appointed  to  the  vacant  see,  and  con- 
secrated in  the  cathedral  of  New  Orleans   November  22d,  1835. 


618 


THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 


Under  his  energetic  direction  the  spiritual  restoration  begun  by- 
Bishop  DuboLirg  continued — thousands  appioached  the  sacra- 
ments \vhe;re  all  had  been  neglect. 

To  give  a  steady  supply  of  pric^ts  he  founded  a  diocesan  sem- 
inary at  Assumption,  in  1838,  placing  it  under  the  Lazarist 
Fathers,  who  also  sent  njany  priests  for  his  missions. 

Emigration  had  brought  in  many  Irish  and  German  Catholics, 
who  needed  churches  and  priests  ;  and  Bishop  Blanc  was  happy 
in  obtaining  Redemptorist  Fathers  to  whom  he  could  confide 
the  German  congiegations. 

Assumption  of  spiriturd  authority  by  the  trustees  of  the  cathe- 
dral, fostered  by  Sedilla  and  other  malcontents,  had  frequently 
afflicted  religion.  The  trustees,  by  a  charter  they  obtained  from 
the  Legislature,  were  elected  by  all  who  chose  to  attend  the 
church,  whether  Catholics  or  not.  It  is  not  surprising,  then, 
that  at  one  Wme  the  president  of  the  board  was  also  grand 
master  of  a  masonic  lodge,  and,  as  such,  attempted  to  have  a 
masonic  vault  in  the  consecrated  ground.  Pope  Leo  XII.,  by  brief 
of  August  16th,  1828,  had  already  condemned  the  trustees  for 
usurping  authority  over  the  pastor.  Yet,  about  this  time,  they 
refused  to  permit  the  rector  of  the  cathedral  appointed  by 
Bishop  Blanc  to  officiate,  or  any  priest  who  recogniztd  him. 
Remonstrance  failed  ;  the  church  was  interdicted  ;  litigation  fol- 
lowed: but  the  discipline  of  the  Church  triumphed. 

The  bishop  convened  a  diocesan  synod  in  1844,  attended  by 
thirty-seven  priests ;  increased  the  number  of  churches,  organ- 
izing new  congiegations  where  sounder  principles  prevailed 
from  the  outset,  and  erected  St.  Mary's  Chapel  near  his  resi- 
dence. 

In  compliance  with  the  recommendation  of  the  Seventh 
Council  of  Baltimore,  New  Orleans  was  raised  to  an  archiepis- 
copal  see,  July  19th,  1850.  After  attending  a  plenary  council 
at  Baltimore,  in  which  the  diocese  from  which  St.  Louis,  Little 


I]Sr  THE    UI^ITED    STATES.  619 

Rock,  Natchez,  and  Mobile  had  ^dro.'^(ly  been  separated,  was 
further  diminished  by  the  creation  of  a  see  at  NatchitO(dies, 
July  29th,  1853 — Archbishop  Blanc  convened  a  provincial 
council  at  New  Orleans  on  the  20t!i  of  January,  185G.  Bt'siile 
the  metropolitan  there  were  his  four  suffragans — Dr.  Portier, 
Bishop  of  Mobile  ;  Dr.  Odin,  Bishop  of  Galveston  ;  Dr.  Byrne, 
Bishop  ofLitile  Rock;  and  Dr.  Martin,  Bishop  of  Natchitoches. 
Tliese,  with  their  theologians,  the  officials  of  the  council,  and 
five  superiors  of  religious  orders,  made  an  imposing  array  in  the 
old  Catholic  city,  betokening  the  new  life  and  energy  of  the 
Church. 

Archbishop  Blanc,  crippled  by  an  accident  received  during 
his  apostolic  journey?,  died  suddenly  at  his  house  in  New  Or- 
leans, June  20th,  18G0. 

The  Diocese  of  New  Orleans  at  this  time  comprised  only  that 
part  of  Louisiana  south  of  the  thirty -first  degree.  Yet  the  pro- 
gi-ess  had  been  such  that,  in  New  Orleans,  there  were  twenty- 
one  churches,  and  the  Ursuline  chapel  ;  and  fifty-one  churches 
and  chapels  in  the  west  of  the  diocese.  There  were  nearly  a 
hundred  priests — secular  clergy  being  aided  by  the  Jesuits,  Re- 
demptorists,  and  Lazarists,  and  by  the  Priests  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  with  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  same  rule  who  di- 
rected asylums,  academies,  and  schools.  The  Ursulines  and 
Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  still  maintained  their  seminaries, 
while  Carmelite  Sisters,  and  School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame 
devoted  themselves  to  educating  all  classes  in  academies  and 
parochial  schools,  and  Sisters  of  Charity  pursued  their  holy 
work  of  mercy,  there  being  no  fewer  than  thii  teen  asylums  and 
hos])itals. 

On  the  death  of  Archbishop  Blanc,  Bisliop  John  Mary  Odin, 
of  Galveston,  was  promoted  to  the  See  of  New  Oileans.  The 
zeal  anil  energy  evinced  in  Texas  were  shown  in  Louisiana.  He 
began  his  visitations  and  endeavored  to  supply  all  wants  that  he 


6.20  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

discovered  by  obtaining  good  priests  or  religious  communities. 
But  the  civil  war  came  to  desolate  the  land,  Louisiana  was  soon 
the  scene  of  battles  and  engagements  on  land  and  water. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  war  imposed  new  duties  on  the  Cath- 
olic clei'gy  and  the  members  of  religious  communities,  whose 
heroic  charity  on  the  battle-field  and  in  the  hospital  proved  their 
zeal  for  religion  and  humanity. 

When  peace  came  at  last,  Archbishop  Odin  found  much  to  be 
done  to  repair  the  ravages  of  war,  and  to  give  schools  and 
churches  to  the  freedmen  who  came  seeking  instruction  and 
guidance  in  the  way  of  salvation.  His  health  had  been  im- 
paired by  long  years  of  missionary  labor,  but  he  hastened  to 
Bome  at  the  call  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  and  took  part  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  Vatican  Council.  Finding  that  disease  was 
sapping  his  strength  he  obtained  leave  to  retire,  and  reached  his 
native  place,  Ambierle  in  France,  where  he  died.  May  ^5th, 
1870. 

In  view  of  his  precarious  health,  and  absence  from  his  see,  he 
had  solicited  tlie  appointment  of  a  coadjutor,  and  the  Right  Rev. 
Napoleon  J.  Perche  was  conseciated  Bishop  of  Abcleria,  in 
2?artiMs  infidelmm,  May  1st,  1870,  and  became  Archbij^hop 
of  New  Orleans  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Odin. 

On  the  10th  of  January,  1873,  he  convened  the  third  Provin- 
cial Council  of  New  Orleans,  in  which  the  decrees  of  the  Council 
of  the  Vatican  were  formally  promulgated,  and  those  of  the 
Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore  adopted. 

The  fathers  of  the  council  expressed  their  sorrow  at  the 
wicked  attacks  on  the  rights  and  person  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff, 
passed  decrees  against  secret  societies,  improper  plays  and 
dances,  and  encouraged  the  formation  of  Catholic  Societies  to 
unite  the  faithful  in  closer  bonds. 

His  diocese,  in  1878,  was  terribly  ravaged  by  tlie  fatal  epi- 
demic— the  yellow  fever.      Many  zealous  priests  and  devoted 


IIT  THE  UNITED  STATES.  621 

sisters  laid  down  their  lives  in  tlie  care  of  the  stricken.  At  that 
time  New  Orleans  contained  twenty-seven  churthes  and  seven 
chapels  ;  there  being  ninety-four  churches  completed  or  erecting, 
attended  by  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  priests.  The  diocese 
contained  a  theological  seminary,  colleges  directed  by  tlie  So- 
ciety of  Jesus  at  New  Orleans  and  Grand  Cotean  ;  tlie  College  of 
Jefferson  under  piicsts  of  the  Society  of  Mary;  Tliibodeanx 
College,  and  several  academies;  the  Salvatorial  Fathers,  Brothers 
of  the  Sacred  Heart,  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools  and 
Brothers  of  Mary  directed  parochial  schools;  the  Uisnhnes, 
Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  Sisters  of  the  Gooil  Shepherd,  and 
of  tiie  Older  of  St.  Dominic,  of  the  Congregation  of  Our  Lady 
of  Mount  Carmel,  Sisters  of  Mercy,  of  St.  Joseph,  of  Notre 
Dame,  the  Marianite  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cioss,  Sisters  of  the 
Lnmaculate  Conception,  Benedictine  Nuns,  Sisters  of  Christian 
Charity,  Sisters  of  Perpetual  Adoration,  Sisters  of  Charity, 
Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor,  and  Colored  Sisters  of  the  Holy 
Family,  labored,  according  to  the  aim  of  their  several  institutes, 
in  education  and  other  works  of  mercy. 

DIOCESE   OF   NATCHITOCHES,    1853. 

The  Diocese  of  Natchitoches,  comprising  the  more  sparsely 
settled  part  of  Louisiana,  lying  north  of  the  thirty-first  degiee, 
was  established  July  29th,  1853,  and  the  A'ery  Rev.  Augustus 
M.  Martin,  a  French  priest  who  had  been  on  the  mission  for 
more  than  ten  3"ears,  and  who  had  as  Vicar-Forane  been  a  local 
superior,  was  appointed  to  the  new  episcopal  see,  and  conse- 
crated November  30th,  1853. 

The  post  of  Natchitoches  was  one  of  the  earliest  founded  by 
the  French,  having  been  begun  in  1?1'7,  by  order  of  La  Motte 
Cadillac,  Governor  of  Louisiana.  The  little  garrison  at  first  de- 
pended for  religious  succor  on  the  Spanish  Franciscan  Fathers, 
who  had  established  the  mission  of  San  Miguel  at  Adayes,  in 


r 


622 


THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 


1715,  the  foimder  being  the  venerable  and  holy  Father  Anthony 
Margil  de  Jesus.  This  mission  was,  however,  broken  up  by  the 
French  a  few  years  later.  It  was  restoied  in  August,  1719,  and 
a  church  erected  which  was  dedicated  to  Our  Lady  of  the 
Pillar. 

A  Fiench  settlement  gradually  formed  at  Natchitoches,  but 
never  attained  any  great  extent. 

Bishop  Dubourg  visited  that  portion  of  his  diocese  and  gave 
a  new  impulse.  St,  Francis'  church  was  built  at  Natchitoches, 
in  1826,  the  money  being  raised,  in  part,  by  a  lottery. 

When  the  Diocese  of  Natchitoches  was  organized  it  con- 
tained a  Catholic  population  of  25,000,  with  churches  at  Nat- 
chitoches, C;tmtg,  Breville,  Cloutierville,  Alexandria,  Monroe, 
and  Milliken's  Bend  ;  bnt  oidy  four  piiests.  The  only  institu- 
tion was  a  convent  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  at  Natchitoches,  founded 
about  1847,  where  the  ladies  had  an  academy  \sith  sixty-five 
pupils. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  Bishop  Martin  labored  quietly, 
but  earnestly,  to  give  his  flock  all  aids  foi-  salvation.  The  popu- 
lation increased,  mainly  by  natural  growth,  emigi'ation  being 
small  ;  but  where  he  found  seven  churches  and  four  priests,  he 
left  sixty  more  churches  and  chapels,  and  three  in  progress,  at- 
tended by  sixteen  priests.  He  had  introduced  the  Sisters  of 
Mercv,  and  the  Daughters  of  the  Cross,  an  order  founded  by  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul,  so  that  there  were  nine  schools  for  Catholic 
girls  and  ten  for  boys, 

Dnrino-  the  vacancy  of  the  see  it  was  administered  by  the 
Very  Rev.  P.  F,  Dicharry,  till  the  installation  of  the  Eight  Rev. 
Fi-ancis  D.  Leray,  D.D.,  who  was  consecrated  the  second  bishop, 
April  22d,  1877. 


12^   THE   Ui^ITED   STATES.  623 


CHAPTER    XL. 

STATE   OF  ALABAMA. 

Diocese  of  Mobile,  1S20.— French  and  Spanish  days— Eight  Rev.  Michael  Portier, 
D.D.,  Vicar- Apostolic,  IS'^5,  Bishop  of  Mobile,  1S:0— Right  Kev.  John  Quinlan,  D.D., 
second  Bishop,  1S59. 

One  portion  of  the  Diocese  of  Louisiana  contained  Mobile, 
wlierc  the  clii«,-f  settlement  of  tlie  colony  was  for  many  years. 
This  in  time  became  a  city  of  the  new  State  of  Alabama,  and, 
with  the  northern  portion,  which  in  Bishop  Carroll's  time  was 
known  as  Gec^rgia  Western  Territory,  and  was  part  of  Baltimore 
Diocese,  was  formed,  in  1824,  into  the  Diocese  of  Mobile. 

The  fort  at  Mobile  was  built  early  in  1702,  and  houses 
erected,  to  which  the  settlement  was  removed  from  Dauphin 
Island.  The  chapel  was  attended  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers  DongS  and 
Du  Ru,  and  subsequently  by  Rev.  Mr.  Bergier.  The  next  year 
Mobile  was  canonically  erected  into  a  parish  (July  20th,  1703), 
and  united  to  the  Seminary  of  the.  Foreign  Missions  at  Quebec. 
Messrs.  de  la  Vente  and  Hure  were  sent  to  take  possession  of 
the  parish,  and  began  the  line  of  regularly-constituted  parochial 
clergy.  Besides  the  French  settlers,  some  Apalache  Indians, 
already  Catholics,  came  to  settle  near,  who  were  attended  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Hure. 

After  sutFering  from  a  hurricane  and  flood  the  site  was 
clianged;  and  when  New  Orleans  was  founded  as  the  capital  of 
the  colony,  Mobile  dwindled  to  a  mere  post.  A  garrison  was 
maintained  here,  however.  The  Carmelites,  when  this  part 
was  assigned  to  them,  began  their  labors  here,  but  soon  retired. 

When  the  Jesuits  were  assigned  to  the  Indian  missions  of 
Louisiana  they  established  one  among  the  Alibamons,  near  Fort 
Toulouse.  Here  Fathers  de  Guyenne,  Le  Roi,  and  others  labored. 


624  THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

At  the  same  time  Fathers  Le  Petit  and  Baudouin  were  preach- 
ing to  the  Choctaws. 

These  missions  were  broken  up  on  the  suppression  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  and,  in  1703,  Mobile,  with  the  adj?icent  coun- 
try, fell  into  the  liands  of  the  English,  and  all  trace  of  Catho- 
licity vanished.  "When  Galvez  captured  it,  in  J  780,  a  Spanish 
garrison  was  placed  here,  and  certainly  had  a  chaplain.  When 
it  came  into  the  hands  of  the  United  States,  in  1813,  the  popu- 
lation was  only  five  hundred  :  but  it  began  to  rise  lapidly. 

In  1825,  Alabama  and  Florida  were  formed  into  a  vicariate- 
apo^^tolic,  and  the  Rev,  Michael  Portier,  appointed  to  this  ex- 
tensive district,  was  consecrated  Bishop  ofOleno,  at  St.  Louis, 
November  5th,  1826.  There  were  only  three  priests  in  the 
vicariate. 

Mobile  had  a  small  church,  but  was  without  a  priest  when 
the  bishop  visited  it  and  began  as  a  simple  missionary  to  revive 
the  faith  in  people  long  deprived  of  a  pastor,  opening  the  year 
1827  with  baptisms.  After  visiting  his  diocese  he  obtained  a 
priest  for  Mobile,  and  went  to  Eiiro[)e.  lie  had  seen  the  church 
at  Mobile  destroyed  by  fire,  in  October,  1827.  Mass  was  then 
said  in  a  private  house  ;  but  in  time  a  little  frame  structure, 
twenty  feet  by  thirty,  was  erected.  However  the  bishop  secured 
able  coadjutors:  among  them  Messrs.  Loras,  Bazin  and  Chaland. 
Meanwhile,  the  Holy  See  had,  on  the  ]5th  of  May,  1829,  erected 
the  Diocese  of  Mobile,  and  transfericd  Dr.  Portier  to  the  new 
see.  He  at  once  planned  the  establishment  of  a  college  and 
seminary,  and  secured  property  at  Spring  Hili,  where  he  began 
the  great  work  which  has,  since  1846,  been  ably  directed  by  the 
Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  His  associate  priests  visited 
the  scattered  Catholics,  saying  mass  in  halls  or  private  liouses, 
laying  the  way  for  the  erection  of  churches  where  they  could 
possibly  be  supported — at  Montgomery,  Tuscaloosa,  Huntsvillo, 
Moulton,  Florence. 


•    IN"  THE    UNITED   STATES.  625 

Bishop  Portier,  still  bent  on  saving  the  young,  induced  the 
Visitation  Nuns  of  Georgetown  to  send  some  of  their  body  to 
found  a  monastery  at  Mobile :  and  the  venerable  convert,  Mrs. 
Barber,  was  one  of  those  who  came.  The  convent  was  begun 
in  1832. 

In  1833,  there  was  a  church  in  Montgomery,  the  pastor,  Rev. 
G.  Chalon,  visiting  congregations  at  Stifl"  Creek,  Tuscaloosa, 
and  Greenborough  ;  a  plantation  had  been  given  for  a  church 
at  Moulton,  where  a  truly  Catholic  family  of  O'Neills  resided ; 
and  the  priest  stationed  here  attended  Huutsville,  Florence, 
and  Tuscumbia. 

When  such  works  were  accomplished,  Bishop  Portier  obtained 
a  modest  lesidence  for  himself,  and,  in  1835,  laid  the  corner- 
stone of  his  cathedral,  which  was  not  dedicated  till  the  Feast 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  1850.  It  was  a  chaste  and  noble 
structure,  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  in  length,  by  eighty- 
eight  feet  wide.  At  this  time  there  was  a  second  church  in 
Mobile,  dedicated  to  St.  Vincent  de  Paul ;  the  Jesuits  had 
erected  St.  Joseph's,  at  Spring  Hill ;  and  Summerville,  Mount 
Vernon,  Fish  River,  Tuscaloosa,  and  Montgomery  could  boast 
of  churches ;  in  the  portion  of  Florida  then  retained  by  the 
Diof-ese  of  Mobile,  Pensacola  had  its  church  and  pastor.  The 
nonhern  part  of  the  diocese  was  not  yet  provided  with  priests, 
but  was  'visited  from  Tennessee.  The  College  of  Spring  Hill 
was  in  a  prosperous  condition  ;  Father  Yenni,  the  now  venera- 
ble professor,  and  author  of  Greek  and  Latin  grammars,  being 
then  in  the  academic  chair.  An  orphan  asylum,  with  an  aca- 
demy and  four  free  schools,  was  directed  by  the  Brothers  of 
Christian  Instruction  ;  the  Sisters  of  Charity  directing  similar 
institutions;  and  the  Visitation  Nuns,  wiih  Mother  Mary  Agues 
Brent  as  superior,  having  a  thiiving  academy.  The  population 
of  the  diocese,  to  which  little  emigration  tended,  was  small,  num- 
bering only  eleven  thousand   Catholics. 


^26  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

One  of  the  bishop's  last  works  was  the  erection,  at  a  cost  of 
$15,000,  of  the  Providence  Infirmary,  under  the  care  of  the 
Sisters  of  Charity,  where  ho  himself  died,  May  loth,  1859. 

Pensacola,  in  West  Florida,  which  still  forms  part  of  the 
Diocese  of  Mobile,  was  older  than  that  city,  having  been 
founded  in  1G99,  to  check  the  progress  of  the  French  in  that 
direction.  Its  early  history  is  conuected  with  interesting  events 
in  our  early  church  history.  Here  a  colony  was  begun  in  1559, 
by  Don  Tristan  de  Luna,  who  was  accompanied  by  a  number  of 
zealous  Dominicans.  They  ministered  to  the  Spaniards,  and  en- 
deavored to  establish  a  church  among  the  Coosa  Indians.  No 
trace  of  a  church  or  fort  remained  when  Don  Andres  de  Pes, 
accompanied  by  the  learned  Father  Siguenza,  began  a  new  fort 
where  Fort  Barrancas  now  stands.  Here  a  chapel  was  built  in 
honor  of  St.  Michael.  A  Confraternity  of  Our  Lady  of  Soledad 
kept  piety  alive,  paid  the  expenses  of  the  chapel  and  the  burial 
of  the  dead.  There  was  another  chapel  at  the  Soledad  mission  of 
the  Apalache  Indians,  and,  in  1718,  another  on  Point  Siguenza. 
In  a  war  between  France  and  Spain  the  place  was  taken  and 
retaken,  and  finally  burned.  It  was  soon  after  rebuilt  at  Santa 
Rosa,  and  a  new  church  erected,  the  Indian  mission  revived  ;  but 
the  town,  soon  after  1743,  was  removed  to  its  present  site,  where 
a  third  church  was  begun.  From  1763  it  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  English,  and  Catholic  worship  ceased  till  May,  1781,  when 
Galvez  captured  the  place,  and  the  Capuchin  Father  Pedro  de 
Yelez  beoan  to  offer  the  holv  sacrifice  ao-ain.  From  that  time 
there  was  a  regular  series  of  parish  priests,  the  Rev.  James 
Coleman,  a  native  of  Ireland,  having  acted  from  1791:  to  1822. 
It  had  been  visited  at  times  by  the  bishop  auxiliar,  and  by  the 
first  Bishop  of  Louisiana,  as  it  was  now  by  tlie  Bishop  of  Mobile. 

The  Right  Rev.  John  Quinlan,  D.D.,  elected  September  26th, 
1859.  was  consecrated  on  the  4th  of  December,  and  took  posses- 
sion of  his  see.     Soon  after  his  installation  the  civil  vvar  broke 


Iiq-  THE   UNITED   STATES.  627 

out,  and  one  of  the  great  naval  engagements  was  fought  within 


sight  of  the  cathedral. 


Althougli  the  Catholics  were  impoverished  by  the  war,  they 
showed  their  love  for  rehgion  by  new  sacrifices.  The  church  at 
Pensacohi,  destroyed  by  fire,  was  rebuilt,  and  new  shrines  of 
religion  erected  at  Eufaula,  Uuntsviile,  Pollard,  and  Whistler. 
On  the  15ih  of  September,  1866,  the  Ursulines  from  South 
Carolina  began  a  convent  at  Tuscaloosa,  and  the  Sisters  of 
Charity  opened  an  hospital  in  addition  to  the  infirmary.  Bishop 
Quinlan  established  a  diocesan  seminary,  and  also  schools  in 
various  parts.  In  1878  Mobile  had  five  churches,  and  the  rest 
of  the  diocese  twenty-one  more,  for  the  Catholic  population, 
which  had  risen  to  sixteen  thousand.  Bishop  Quinlan,  to  de- 
velop the  parochial  schools,  introduced  the  Brothers  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross,  and  Dominican  Sisters, 
but  they  did  not  remain  ;  though  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  and 
Sisters  of  Mercy  are  still  laboring  in  the  old  French  and  Spanish 
field. 


CHAPTER    XLI 

STATE  OF  MISSOURI. 


Diocese  of  St.  Lotus,  1827.— Eight  Rev.  wniiam  Dubourg,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  Joseph 
Rosati,  D.D.,  first  Bishop  of  St.  Louis-Right  Rev.  Peter  Richard  Kenriclv,  Co- 
adjutor— Succeeds  to  the  See— Created  Archbishop— Eight  Rev.  Patrick  John  Ryan, 
D.D.,  Coadjutor. 

Diocese  op  St.  Joseph,  1S68.— Eight  Rev.  John  J.  Hogan,  D.D. 

What  is  now  the  State  of  Missouri  was  first  visited  by  French 
ti'nders  and  miners.  A  post  was  in  time  established  on  the 
^lissouri  River,  and  the  chief's  daughter,  becoming  a  Catholic, 
married  a  subaltern,  and  went  to  France ;  but  the  Indians  sub- 
sequently cut  ofl'  the  French.     Not  long  before  the  end  of  the 


628  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

French  rule  some  settlers  in  Illinois  crossed  ihe  river  and  founded 
Sainte  Genevieve  on  Gabourie  Creek,  about  1750;  St.  Charles 
followed,  in  1762  ;  and,  on  the  loth  of  February,  1764,  Pierre 
Liguest  Laclede  founded  the  city  of  St.  Louis.  The  settlements 
in  their  names  show  the  faith  of  the  founders.  They  were  con- 
sidered part  of  the  Ilhnois  country,  and  visited  by  Father  Watrin 
and  other  priests  on  the  eastern  side.  Father  Meurin  crossed  to 
say  mass  for  the  founders  of  St.  Louis.  After  his  return  from 
New  Orleans  he  remained  west  of  the  Mississippi  in  the  Spanish 
portion  till  he  was  compelled  to  flee  across  the  river.  The  Rev. 
Pierre  Gibault,  less  obnoxious  to  the  ruling  powers,  then  visited 
the  western  shore,  and,  in  1770,  erected  a  small  log  church  on 
a  square  assigned  for  the  purpose  by  Laclede,  and  which  is  now 
occupied  by  the  cathedral,  having  been  more  than  a  century  in 
possession  of  Catholicity.  The  Capuchins  were  almost  the  only 
priests  in  the  province ;  and  Father  Valentin  officiated  at  St. 
Louis  from  1772  to  1775.  When  the  Bishop  of  Santiago  as- 
sumed jurisdiction,  in  1776,  the  Capuchin  Father  Bernard  was 
sent  as  the  first  parish  priest,  and  erected  a  large  log  church  at 
Ste.  Genevieve;  Florissant  and  New  Madrid  soon  had  churches. 
When  Bishop  Penalver  was  appointed  to  the  Diocese  of  Lou- 
isiana he  endeavored  to  increase  the  clergy  and  churches  in 
Upper  Louisiana,  but,  though  the  number  of  Catholics  increased 
to  about  eight  thousand,  there  were,  in  1818,  only  four  priests 
and  as  many  churches.  Bishop  Dubourg,  repelled  from  New 
Orleans,  fixed  his  residence  at  St.  Louis,  and  that  city  gained 
the  institutions  which  his  zeal  led  him  to  found.  He  brought 
over  Fathers  de  Andreis  and  Rosati,  with  two  other  priests  of 
llie  mission,  and  several  students,  who  founded  a  seminary  at 
the  Barrens,  which  has  been  a  hive  for  zealous  priests  for  all 
parts  of  the  countr3\  A  college  was  soon  begun  in  connection 
with  the  seminary,  and  both  institutions  are  now  at  Cape  Girar- 
deau. A  few  years  later  he  secured  some  Belgian  Jesuit  Fathers 


IN-  THE   UNITED  STATES.  629 

and  students,  who  were  on  the  point  of  returning  to  Europe. 
Father  Charles  F.  Van  Quickeuborne,  the  superior,  founded  a 
novitiate  at  Florissant,  erected  a  church  at  St.  Charles,  and,  in  a 
few  years,  a  university  at  St.  Louis.  This  organization  became 
the  vice-province  of  Missouri,  extending  in  time  to  Cincinnati, 
Chicago,  and  Detroit,  as  well  as  by  Indian  missions  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains. 

Bishop  Dubourg,  with  two  zealous  bodies  of  priests  to  train 
young  men  and  extend  missions  throughout  the  diocese,  exerted 
himself  to  secure  a  colony  of  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,,  whose 
success  as  teachers  in  France  had  been  extraordinary.  He  also 
founded  communities  of  Ursulines  and  Sisters  of  Loretto. 

When  his  zeal  and  patience  finally  enabled  Bishop  Dubourg 
to  remove  to  New  Orleans,  Father  Rosati  was  appointed  co- 
adjutor, and  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Tenagre,  March  25th, 
182-4,  taking  up  his  residence  in  St.  Louis ;  and  when  that  city 
was  erected  into  an  episcopal  see,  in  March,  1827,  he  was  trans- 
lated to  it  as  first  bishop.  His  diocese  embraced  Missouri, 
Western  Illinois,  Arkansas,  and  the  Western  Territory  to  the 
Pacific. 

Under  his  care  the  cause  of  religion  advanced.  A  generous 
Catholic,  John  Mullanphy,  gave  a  large  brick  building  and  ex- 
tensive grounds,  to  enable  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  to 
open  an  academy  ;  and  a  house  and  grounds  for  an  hospital, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  whom  Bishop 
Rosati  introduced,  as  he  did  also  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  in 
1836.  He  began,  and  lived  to  complete,  a  fine  cathedral  which 
cost  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  was  solemnly  dedicated,  October 
28th,  1834. 

In  1837  the  See  of  Dubuque  was  founded,  and  Iowa  Territoiy 
detached  from  St.  Louis.  Two  years  after.  Bishop  Rosati  con- 
vened a  synod  of  his  clergy,  in  which  wise  regulations  were 
adopted  to  meet  the  wants  and  difficulties  of  the  church. 


630  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Having  been  appointed  Apostolic  Delegate  to  Hayti,  to  en- 
deavor to  obtain  a  canonical  regulation  of  the  church  in  that 
island,  Bishop  Rosati  solicited  the  appointment  of  the  Right 
Rev.  Peter  R.  Kenrick  as  coadjutor,  and  that  learned  priest  was 
consecrated  Bishop  of  Drasa,  November  30th,  1841.  Bishop 
Rosati  never  returned  to  St.  Louis.  After  a  successful  mis- 
sion in  Hayti  he  revisited  Rome,  and  was  again  dispatched 
to  the  negro  republic.  Before  reaching  Paris  he  was  attacked 
with  a  dangerous  disease,  and,  seeing  no  possibility  of  his 
reaching  America,  made  his  way  back  to  Rome,  where  he  died, 
September  25th,  1813.  During  his  administration  churches 
arose  at  Fredericstown,  Apple  Creek,  Westphalia,  Cape  Girar- 
deau, Washington,  Old  Mines,  Gravois  settlement,  and  other 
points,  all  of  which  became  centres  of  districts  :  the  diocese 
containing  sixty-five  churches  and  seventy-three  priests,  with  a 
population  estimated  at  one  hundred  thousand. 

Bishop  Kenrick's  diocese  was  reduced  the  same  year  by  the 
creation  of  the  See  of  Chicago,  to  which  the  part  of  Illinois 
hitherto  subject  to  the  Bishop  of  St.  Louis  was  assigned,  and  by 
the  erection  of  the  See  of  Little  Rock  for  the  State  of  Arkansas. 
The  Diocese  of  St.  Louis  was  thus  confined  to  the  State  of  Mis- 
souri and  the  Territories.  The  bishop  gave  the  impulse  to  every 
good  work :  he  anticipated  settlements  by  the  erection  of 
churches  ;  thus  it  is  recorded  that  there  was  a  Catholic  chapel 
at  Kansas  City,  regularly  visited,  before  a  single  house  was 
built.  Every  year  marked  a  steady  increase  of  churches  and 
priests,  with  a  development  of  religious  institutions,  schools, 
academies,  asylums,  and  hospitals. 

By  his  apostolic  brief  of  July  20th,  1847,  Pope  Pius  IX. 
raised  the  See  of  St.  Louis  to  the  dignity  and  rank  of  an  arch- 
bishopric, directing  that  the  next  council  held  at  Baltimore 
should  suggest  the  most  convenient  and  proper  sees  for  suffra- 
gans.  The  Seventh  Provincial  Council,  in  1849,  asked  that  the 


11^  THE  UNITED  STATES.  631 

Dioceses  of  Dubuque,  Nashville,  Chicago,  and  Milwaukee,  shoukl, 
with  that  of  St.  Louis,  form  the  province  of  St.  Louis.  Otlicts 
were  subsequently  added.  The  archbishop,  in  August,  1850, 
convened  a  synod  of  the  clergy  of  his  diocese;  and,  not  long 
after,  St.  Louis  saw  the  first  piovincial  council.  It  opened  on 
the  7th  of  September,  1855,  and  was  attended  by  the  Most  Rev. 
Archbishop,  Bishops  Loras  of  Dubuque,  Miles  of  Nashville, 
Henni  of  Milwaukee,  Cretin  of  St.  Paul,  Lamy  of  Santa  Fe, 
O'Regan  of  Chicago,  and  Bishop  Miege,  Vicar-Apostolic  of  the 
Indian  Territory.  The  vast  territory,  once  included  in  the 
Diocese  of  New  Orleans,  was  rapidly  becoming  filled  with 
thriving  towns,  and  new  sees  were  demanded  to  relieve  the 
bishops  of  older  dioceses,  and  to  meet  the  wants  of  newly-settled 
districts. 

A  second  council,  held  in  September,  1858,  was  equally 
fruitful  in  good  results  ;  it  was  attended  by  Bishops  Henni  of 
Milwaukee,  Lamy  of  Santa  Fe,  Miege  of  Kansas,  Juncker  of 
Alton,  Smythe  of  Dubuque,  Duggan,  administrator  of  Chi- 
cago, and  the  Very  Rev.  A.  Ravoux,  administrator  of  St. 
Paul.  Fourteen  important  decrees  were  passed  :  one  asking 
for  the  assembling  of  a  national  council  to  regulate  important 
points. 

Meanwhile  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools  had  begun 
their  labors  in  the  diocese  (1851),  and  gradually  built  up  thriv- 
ing and  excellent  institutions — a  college,  academies,  reforma- 
tories, and  parochial  schools. 

When  the  civil  war  began  the  diocese  contained  seventy 
churches  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  priests.  St.  Louis,  Bar- 
rens, Florissant,  Cape  Girardeau,  St.  Charles,  Carondelet, 
Weston,  St.  Genevieve,  and  St.  Joseph,  Washino-ton,  and  New 
Westphalia,  had  religious  institutions  for  education  and  works 
of  mercy.  As  the  State  became  a  battle-field  religion  suffered, 
and  Catholics  found  that  the  fanaticism  of  some  men  in  ofince 


632  THE  CATHOLIC  CHUECH 

not  nnfreqnently  made  them  feel  their  temporary  power.  Yet, 
even  during  this  period,  the  number  of  churches  increased. 

la  1868,  it  was  determined  to  divide  the  diocese,  and  erect  a 
new  see  at  St.  Joseph's,  taking  from  St.  Louis  the  north-western 
part  of  the  State.  Since  then  the  increase  has  been  rapid,  ahhough 
the  venerable  archbishop,  who  took  an  active  part  in  the  Plena- 
ry Council  at  Baltimore,  and  subsequently  in  the  (Ecumenical 
Council  of  the  Vatican,  was  compelled  to  seek  a  coadjutor  in 
1872.  The  learned  and  eloquent  Rev.  Patrick  John  Ryan  was 
consecrated,  on  the  l-lth  of  April,  Bishop  of  Tricomia,  and  co- 
adjutor to  the  Most  Rev.  Dr.  Kenrick.  His  residence  was  at 
St.  John's  Church,  which  thus  had  the  honor  of  a  bishop's 
ministration.  On  the  27th  of  August,  1876,  the  cathedral  cele- 
brated its  centennial  with  great  pomp  and  ceremonial,  and  a 
most  eloquent  and  instructive  review  of  its  history  was  issued  by 
the  Rev.  David  J.  Doherty,  inviting  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  Catholics  in  the  city  to  unite  in  the  general  joy. 

In  ten  yeai*s  the  churches  in  the  diocese  increased  from  one 
hundred  to  two  hundred  and  seven,  St.  Louis  alone  having 
thirty-nine  ;  and  the  clergy  from  one  hundred  and  sixty-fi,ve  to 
two  hundred  and  forty-six  ;  from  twenty  free  schools  to  one 
hundred  and  three,  with  fifteen  thousand  pupils.  New  orders 
had  come  in  to  aid  in  the  good  work — St.  Mary's  Sisters,  the 
Alexian  Biothei s,  who  opened  an  hospital  for  men ;  the  Little 
Sisters  of  the  Poor  to  harbor  the  aged  ;  while,  among  other  good 
works,  an  insane  asylum  was  opened  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 

The  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  is  in  a  flourishing  con- 
dition, with  more  than  a  thousand  active  members,  who  distri- 
bute twenty-five  thousand  dollars  yearly  among  the  poor. 

DIOCESE   OF   ST.   JOSEPH,   1868. 

The  Diocese  of  St.  Joseph,  as  established  by  Pope  Pius  IX., 
embraced  the  part  of  Missouri  lying  between  the  Missouri  and 


THE  ••OLI>  CATUEL>KAL-  OF  ST.  LOUIS,  AlO. 


I 


IK  THE   UNITED  STATES.  633 

Chariton  rivers.  It  had  a  scattered  Catholic  population  of 
fourteen  thonsand ;  but  when  the  Right  Rev.  John  Joseph 
Hogan  was  consecrated,  September  13th,  1808,  he  found  but 
nine  priests  to  aid  him,  and  only  eleven  churches.  St.  Joseph, 
his  see,  could  boast  of  two  churches,  one  for  the  Germane;  and 
of  an  academy  of  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  The  bishop 
called  to  his  aid  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  who 
began  a  college. 

To  supply  the  wants  of  this  flock  be  invited  to  his  diocese 
the  Benedictines,  who  founded  a  monastery  at  Conception  ; 
the  Franciscans,  who  occupied  Mount  St.  Mary%  in  Chariton 
County  ;  Sisters  of  Charity  and  St.  Joseph,  who  direct  schools 
at  St.  Joseph ;  Sisteis  of  Mercy,  at  Cfurollton  ;  of  St.  Joseph, 
at  Brookfield  and  Chillicothe ;  Sisters  of  the  Perpetual  Adora- 
tion at  Conception  and  Maryville  :  giving  the  diocese  a  monastery 
and  twelve  schools,  while  the  clergy,  by  1878,  had  increased 
to  twenty-seven,  attending  thirty  churches  and  twelve  stations. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

STATE  OF   ARKANSAS. 


'  Diocese  of  Little  Rock,  1844.— Right  Rev.  Andrew  Byrne,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  Edward 
Fitzgerald,  D.D. 

The  history  of  the  State,  and  of  Catholicity  within  it,  begins 
with  the  visit  of  Father  Marquette,  who,  in  1673,  announced 
the  faith  to  the  friendly  Quappas.  When  La  Salle  followed, 
seeking  to  colonize  and  gather  the  trade  into  his  own  hands,  he 
granted  this  part  to  Tonti,  who,  in  1689,  gave  the  Superior  of 
the  Jesuits  land  for  a  church  and  mission.  At  a  later  day  a 
French  post  was  established  on  the  river  ;  and,  when  the  Jesuits 


634  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

were  assio-ned  to  the  Indian  missions,  Father  Paul  du  Poisson 
was  the  missionary  ministering  to  the  French  and  Indians.  He 
perished  a  victim  to  his  charitable  zeal,  while  stopping  at  Nat- 
chez to  supply  the  place  of  the  absent  clergyman,  having  been 
killed  by  the  Indians,  November  28th,  1729.  Other  fathers 
succeeded  him  at  the  Poste  aux  Arkansas  ;  but  Father  Carette, 
finding  it  impossible  to  induce  the  French  to  erect  a  chapel,  or 
even  give  him  a  suitable  room  in  the  fort,  where  the  greatest 
irreligion  prevailed,  abandoned  it,  and  the  mission  was  vacant  in 
1763.  Father  Meurin,  after  the  suppression,  visited  it  during 
his  residence  west  of  the  Mississippi.  After  that  priestly  visits 
were  rare ;  and  even  the  presence  of  a  bishop  at  New  Orleans 
did  not  lead  to  much  improvement.  The  subsequent  political 
changes  made  all  help  almost  impossible.  In  1822  there  was  a 
priest  in  Arkansas.  Two  years  after,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Odin  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Timon,  then  a  sub-deacon,  made  a  mission  to  Arkansas. 
No  priest  had  yet  visited  Little  Rock.  They  were  warmly  re- 
ceived, and  proceeded  to  a  little  village  of  sixteen  Catholic  fami- 
lies lower  down  the  river,  where  mass  had  been  said  twice. 
The  Post  was  the  only  place  where  there  were  Catholics  enough 
to  form  a  cono;rcgation  for  a  priest,  the  rest  being  greatly  scat- 
tered ;  and,  in  many  cases,  Catholics  only  in  name,  stich  was 
their  ignorance.  The  Qiiapaw  Indians  h.-id  retained  their  re- 
spect for  the  priests,  but  the  early  teachings  ha<l  been  forgotten. 

After  the  erection  of  the  See  of  St.  Louis  a  church  was 
erected  at  the  Post,  and  the  Rev.  E.  Dupuy  was  pastor  for  a 
time,  visiting  Pine  Blulfs,  Little  Rock,  and  other  stations.  Pine 
Bluffs  next  had  a  chunth,  dedicated  to  St.  Irenaeus,  the  pastor. 
Rev.  Peter  Donnelly,  visiting  all  stations  in  Arkansas.  In  1841 
two  priests  were  stationed  here. 

In  1844,  Arkansas,  with  the  Indian  Territory  assigned  to  the 
Cherokees  and  Choctaws,  was  formed  into  the  Diocese  of  Little 
Rock,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Andrew  Byrne,  a  zealous  Irish  priest 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  635 

in  New  York,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Little  Rock,  March  10th, 
1844.  After  a  visitation  of  his  diocese  he  proceeded  to  Europe 
to  obtain  material  and  spiritual  aid. 

The  Sisters  of  Loretto  began  an  academy  at  the  Post,  but, 
from  the  want  of  support,  were  compelled  to  withdraw.  The 
bishop  set  to  work  to  erect  churches  at  Fort  Smith,  Van  Buren, 
and  Fayetteville,  but  resources  were  wanting.  Catholic  emigra- 
tion did  not  come.  In  1848  there  was  not  a  Catholic  settled 
from  Little  Rock  to  Van  Buren,  the  congregation  at  the  former 
place  was  only  seventy-four,  and  at  some  missions  only  a  sin- 
gle family.  The  bishop  was  himself  the  most  laborious  mis- 
sionary ;  but,  in  three  years,  the  whole  contributions  of  the 
faithful  of  his  diocese  for  his  support  was  thirty-one  dollars.  Yet 
the  bishop  persevered.  The  Sisters  of  Mercy  from  Ireland 
founded  a  convent  and  academy  at  Little  Rock,  which  has  pros- 
pered, and  had  filiations  at  Fort  Smith  and  Helena.  He  also 
established  a  college  at  Fort  Smith.  When  the  war  began,  in 
1861,  there  were  seventeen  churches  with  fifty  stations,  and  nine 
priests,  an  increase  that  at  first  seemed  impossible.  The  war 
paralyzed  everything,  and  Bishop  Byrne  himself  was  taken  away 
by  death  in  1862. 

The  condition  of  the  country  made  the  appointment  of  a  suc- 
cessor difiScult,  but,  on  the  3d  of  February,  1867,  the  Rev.  Ed- 
ward Fitzgerald  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Little  Rock.  The 
prolonged  misgovernment  of  the  South  paralyzed  the  State ; 
but  new  churches  have  arisen  at  Brinkly,  Hope,  the  Hot  Springs, 
Pocahontas,  and  Lake  Village. 

After  several  years'  preparation,  ground  for  the  erection  of  a 
new  cathedral  at  Little  Rock  was  blessed,  January  20th,  1878, 
by  Bisl-.op  Fitzgerald.  The  edifice  is  to  be  one  hundred  and 
thirty-four  feet  long  by  fifty-four  wide,  with  transepts  of  seventy- 
five  feet,  and  two  towers  two  hundred  feet  high,  an  immense 
undertakincr  for  a  diocese  so  limited  in  resources. 


636  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

The  churches,  in  1878,  numbered  twenty-two,  attended  by- 
eleven  priests  ;  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  still  maintain  their  convent 
at  Little  Rock.  But  the  diocese  remains  one  of  the  poorest  and 
weakest,  the  whole  number  of  Catholics  being  about  2,500. 


CHAPTER     XLIII. 

STATE  OF  IOWA. 

DiocESB  OF  DuBtTQUE— Eight  Rev.  Matthias  Loras,  D.D.— Eight  Rev.  Clement  Smyth, 
D.D.— Eight  Rev.  John  Hennessy,  D.D. 

When  the  tide  of  emigration,  filling  up  the  territory  to  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi,  began  to  cross  it  in  the  north-west, 
there  were  priests  ever  in  the  advance  to  minister  to  the  Catho- 
lics. Dubuque  was  begun  in  1833.  The  Catholics  there  were 
visited,  in  1834,  by  the  Rev.  James  McMahon,  and,  in  1835,  by 
the  Rev.  P.  Fitzmaurice.  The  white  robe  of  St.  Dominic  has 
the  glory  of  establishing  the  first  churches  in  the  State.  In  1836, 
Father  Samuel  Mazzuchelli,  of  the  Order  of  Preachers,  com- 
menced the  erection  of  St.  Raphael's  Church,  acting  as  mis- 
sionary, architect,  and  collector,  giving  all  his  own  means,  and 
rejoicing  when,  in  September,  he  had  it  covered  in  and  ready 
for  divine  service  ;  the  cost,  when  complete — some  five  thousand 
dollars — being  all  contributed  in  the  immediate  vicinity. 

When  the  Catholic,  Anthony  Leclaire,  founded  Davenport, 
in  1836,  the  same  missionary,  aided  by  him,  in  April  of  the  fol- 
lowing year,  laid  the  corner-stone  of  St.  Anthony's  Church,  a 
modest  structure,  twenty  five  feet  by  forty,  built  of  the  first  bricks 
made  in  the  place. 

The  evidently  rapid  increase  of  the  Catholic  body  made  it 
more  than  the  few  priests  at  the  command  of  the  Bishop  of  St. 


11^  THE   UNITED   STATES.  637 

Louis  could  attend,  and,  in  the  Council  of  Baltimore,  May,  1837, 
lie  proposed  the  erection  of  a  new  see  at  Dubuque.  The  Right 
Rev.  Matthew  Loras,  a  native  of  Lyons,  who  had  labored  for 
years  in  the  Diocese  of  Mobile,  was  consecrated  bishop,  Decem- 
ber 10th,  1837,  and,  appointing  Father  Mazzuchelli  as  his  vicar- 
geueial,  went  to  Europe  to  obtain  aid.  Thus,  in  four  years 
from  the  erection  of  the  first  log  hut  in  Iowa,  it  had  two  churches 
and  a  bishop. 

Bishop  Loras  took  possession  of  his  cathedral  April  21st, 
1839,  attended  by  Father  Mazzuchelli,  and  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Pelamourgnes  and  Cretin,  who  had  accompanied  him  from 
France.  Under  the  impulse  given  by  the  bishop,  churches  soon 
rose  at  Burlington,  Makoqueta,  Prairie  du  Chien,  Fort  Madison, 
Iowa  City,  and  Bloomington  ;  academies  were  opened ;  the  Sis- 
ters of  Charity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  founded  in  Philadelphia, 
removed  to  Dubuque,  where  a  mother  house  soon  sent  out 
colonies  in  all  directions.  In  1851  the  Brothers  of  Christian 
Instruction  established  a  house  at  Dubuque. 

With  great  foresight  the  bishop  secured  lands  in  various  parts 
for  the  needed  Catholic  institutions. 

Keokuk  soon  had  a  church  and  a  convent  of  Visitation  Nuns ; 
and,  in  1849,  Bishop  Loras  gave  several  hundred  acres  of  land 
to  a  community  of  Trappist  Monks  who  were  seeking  a  spot  to 
labor  and  pray.  A  new  Melleray  arose,  with  a  church  for  the 
neighboring  Catholics,  and,  ere  long,  a  free  school. 

The  growth  of  his  flock  made  the  life  of  Bishop  Loras  one  of 
active  zeal.  "When  the  condition  of  affairs  justified  the  step  he 
began  the  erection  of  a  new  cathedral,  Dubuque  having  already 
a  second  church.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  November  14th, 
1848,  and  he  lived  to  complete  and  dedicate  it. 

In  1856,  his  failing  health  warned  him  to  seek  a  coadjutor, 
and  the  Very  Rev.  Clement  Smyth,  founder  and  prior  of  the 
Trappist  monastery,  was  appointed  by  the  Holy  See,  and  con- 


638  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

seci'aied,  May  3cl,  1857,  Bishop  of  Tbaiiasis,  in  ^jartibus  infi- 
delium.  The  venerable  bishop  died  of  paralysis,  February  18th, 
1858,  mourned  by  his  flock  of  fifty-five  thousand  Catholics,  a 
hundred  and  seven  priests  in  his  diocese  offering  up  the  holy 
sacrifice. 

Bishop  Smyth,  called  from  the  seckision  of  the  strictest  Cis- 
tercian rule,  labored  earnestly  to  carry  on  the  good  work.  His 
sole  aim  was  to  give  all  his  flock  pastors  and  churches,  however 
humble,  where  they  could  hear  mass  and  approach  the  sacra- 
ments. He  was  zealous  in  his  endeavors  to  relieve  the  poor, 
give  shelter  to  the  orphan,  and  provide  schools  for  the  young. 
When  he  died  piouslv,  on  the  23d  of  September,  1865,  he  left 
seventy-nine  churches,  five  built  within  a  year,  and  twelve  more 
in  progress.  Including  the  fathers  at  his  old  home,  now  become 
the  Abbey  of  Our  Lady  of  La  Trappe,  with  the  Right  Rev. 
Ephraim  McDounel  as  abbot,  there  were  fifty-eight  priests  in 
the  diocese ;  there  were  fourteen  communities  of  religious  women, 
and  a  parochial  school  at  almost  every  point  where  there  was  a 
resident  pastor. 

The  Rev.  John  Hennessy,  who  had  evinced  great  merit  as  a 
priest  of  the  Diocese  of  St.  Louis,  was  appointed  to  succeed 
Bishop  Smyth,  and  was  consecrated  September  30th,  1866.  A 
few  years  later  the  venerable  priest, Very  Rev.  Terence  James 
Donohoe,  founder  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
and  for  several  years  Vicar-General  of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque, 
died  January  5th,  1869,  in  his  seventy-fifth  year.  The  mother 
house,  established  at  Dubuque,  in  1833,  had  given  rise  to  two 
other  houses  in  Dubuque,  and  to  convents  in  Davenport,  Iowa 
City,  Des  Moines,  and  Muscatine,  all  directing  well-attended 
academies  and  schools. 

In  1869,  the  bishop  founded  the  Mercy  Hospital  at  Daven- 
port, on  property  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pelamourgues  had  secured, 


IN   THE   Ui^ITED   STATES.  C30 

and  to  which  a  charitable  lady,  Mrs.  Judge  Mitchell,  made  a 
generous  gift  of  ten  acres. 

The  bishop  had,  early  in  his  administration,  established  a  col- 
lege, but  the  time  had  not  come,  and  it  was  suspended.  St. 
Joseph's  College  was  opened  ai  Dubuque,  in  September,  1873; 
Sisters  of  St.  Francis  and  of  Notre  Dame  came  too,  to  carry  on 
the  great  work  of  parochial  schools. 

In  18T3,  the  Benedictines,  who  had  entered  the  diocese, 
founded,  with  Father  Augustine  Burns  as  prior,  St.  Malachy's 
Benedictine  Priory,  at  Creston,  Union  County,  and,  though 
the  zealous  founder  was  soon  taken  away,  the  work  grew  and 
prospered.  It  is  one  of  the  off-shoots  of  St.  Vincent's  Abbey, 
Pennsylvania. 

Five  years  later  there  were  in  the  diocese  one  hundred  and 
thirty-five  churches,  with  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  regularly 
attended  stations,  under  a  hundred  and  fiftj-nine  priests  secular 
and  re^-ular,  and  a  Catholic  population  of,  probably,  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  thousand.  For  young  men  there  was  a  college  ; 
five  well  -  conducted  academies  for  young  ladies ;  sixty-four 
parochial  schools,  nearly  all  under  the  care,  of  the  clergy  or  of 
rehgious,  and  numbering  more  than  ten  thousand  pupils. 


CHAPTER     XLIV. 

STATE  OP  MINNESOTA. 

Diocese  of  St.  Pattl,  1850.— Rieht  Rev.  Joseph  Cretin,  D.D.,  first  Bishop— Eight  Rev. 
Thomas  L.  Grace,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  John  Ireland,  D.D.,  Coadjutor— Vicarlate-Apos- 
tolic  of  Northern  Minnesota,  1875— Riglit  Rev.  Rupert  Seidenbush,  D.D. 

About  1818,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dumoulin  began  a  mission  at 
Pembina,  among  the  Chippewas  and  half-breeds,  but  abandoned 
it  in  1823,  when  it  was  found  not  to  be  within  the  British  lines. 


640  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

The  first  edifice  reared  by  whites  in  Minnesota  was  the  log 
tradiug-house  erected  at  the  mouth  of  Pigeon  River  by  the 
brave  Catholic  pioneer,  Daniel  Greysolon  du  Luht,  soon  after 
be  took  possession  of  the  country  for  France,  in  July,  1G79. 
The  next  year  the  Recollect  Father  Louis  Hennepin,  carried  up 
a  prisoner  by  the  Sioux,  saw  and  named  the  Falls  of  St.  An- 
thony. Some  years  after,  in  1689,  when  possession  was  again 
formally  taken,  the  Jesuit  Father  Marest  accompanied  the 
French,  and,  doubtless,  said  mass  in  Fort  Bon  Secours,  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Pepin.  Father  Guignas,  a  subsequent  missionary, 
who  labored  to  convert  tlie  Sioux,  fell  into  the  bands  of  the 
Kickapoos,  and  underwent  a  long  captivity.  No  successful  set- 
tlement was  made  during  the  French  rule,  nor  for  years  after 
its  transfer  to  the  United  States.  Among  the  first  settlers, 
lower  down,  were  Canadian  Catholics,  like  J.  B.  Faribault. 
Gradually  Catholics  made  their  homes  in  various  parts,  but 
were  without  religious  guidance  till  Bishop  Loras  and  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Pclamourgues,  in  1839,  visited  Fort  Snelling  and  Mendota 
or  St.  Peter's.  At  the  latter  place  he  found  one  hundred  and 
eighty-five  Catholics  ;  it  was  the  first  visit  of  a  priest  to  their 
settlement,  and,  in  spite  of  long  neglect,  they  showed  an  earnest 
desire  to  approach  the  sacraments — baptisms,  marriages,  con- 
firmations followed.  Arrangements  were  made  for  the  erection 
of  a  church,  and  the  next  year  the  bishop  sent  the  Rev.  Lucian 
Galtier.  He  began  his  labors  at  a  log  house  at  Mendota  given 
by  Faribault.  Two  good  settlers,  Gcrvais  and  Guerin,  gave 
ground  on  the  opposite  side  for  a  church,  which  was  erected  in 
1841,  of  logs,  and  dedicated  in  October  to  St.  Paul  the  Apostle; 
it  was  poor  indeed,  but  became  the  nucleus  of  the  City  of  St. 
Paul.  This  pioneer  priest  was  followed  by  the  Rev.  Augustine 
Ravoux,  who  visited  many  stations,  giving  instructions  in  Eng- 
lish, French,  and  Dakota,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  A.  Godfert. 
Somewhat  later  the  Rev.  George  A.   Bellecourt  founded,    at 


II^"  THE   UNITED   STATES.  641 

Pembina,  near  the  British  line,  the  Church  of  the  Assumption, 
for  the  Catholic  half-breeds  from  Red  River  who  had  again 
gathered  there. 

The  Seventh  Council  of  Baltimore,  in  1849,  recommended 
the  erection  of  an  episcopal  see  in  Minnesota.  The  Holy  Father 
established  the  See  of  St.  Paul,  and  in  1850,  appointed  the  Right 
Eev.  Joseph  Cretin  as  first  bishop.  He  had  been  an  energetic 
missionary  in  the  neighboring-diocese,  and  gave  an  impulse  to 
the  spread  of  Catholicity.  He  was  consecrated  in  France,  Jan- 
uary 26th,  1857,  and,  in  July,  took  possession  of  his  diocese. 
The  original  log  church  and  log  house  were  soon  relinquished 
for  a  large  building  of  brick  and  stone,  eighty-four  feet  by  forty- 
four,  erected  by  the  bishop  in  less  than  five  months  after  his 
arrival.  This  served  for  a  church,  school,  and  residence.  There 
were  three  priests  in  his  diocese,  and  he  brought  several  from 
France.  In  1856,  Bishop  Timon  of  Buffalo  laid  the  corner-stone 
of  a  cathedral,  commenced  in  1854  and  completed  in  1857; 
and  priests  were  stationed  not  only  at  St.  Peter  and  Pembina, 
but  also  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  Little  Canada,  Long 
Prairie,  and  among  the  Chippewas.  A  school  and  even  a  theo- 
logical seminary  were  at  once  commenced.  Emigration  soon 
increased  the  Catholic  body  so  that  churches  and  schools  were 
called  for  in  all  parts;  but,  almost  from  the  origin,  the  unjust 
and  un-Christian  state  system  of  schools  was  introduced,  and 
Catholics  found  themselves  taxed  for  schools  where  open  war 
was  made  on  their  faith,  and  every  effort  made  to  root  it  out 
of  the  hearts  of  their  children.  Bishop  Cretin  appealed  in  vain 
to  the  Legislature  ;. but  the  wretched  bigot,  Neill,  who  wrote 
the  history  of  Minnesota,  exults  in  the  defeat  of  his  just  claims, 
and  only  in  this  instance  mentions  the  existence  of  the  Church 
in  his  work. 

In  1853,  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  came  to  aid  in  the  cause 
of  education,  and  soon   had  flourishing  academies  and  schools; 


643  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

and  an  hospital  erected  by  the  bishop  on  Exchange  Street.  The 
Winnebagoes  who  had  received  Bishop  Cretin's  care  before  then" 
removal  were  again  cheered  by  the  presence  of  a  priest;  Brothers 
of  the  Holy  Family,  at  St.  Paul,  and  Sisters  of  the  Propagation 
of  the  Faith,  at  Pembina,  were  the  next  addition  to  his  educa- 
tional force.  A  most  important  accession  to  the  diocese  was 
that  of  the  Benedictines  who,  in  1856,  founded  a  house  of  their 
ancient  order  at  St.  Cloud.  The  priests  of  this  venerable  rule, 
as  full  of  zeal  as  when  they  evangelized  Germany  a  thousand 
years  ago,  ministered  to  the  Catholics  far  and  wide,  establishing 
schools  for  both  sexes,  nuns  of  the  same  order  coming  to  in- 
struct the  daughters  of  the  pioneers.  But  religious  orders  and 
accession  of  priests  could  not  keep  pace  with  emigration. 

Bishop  Cretin  was  struck  down  with  apoplexy  in  the  midst  of 
his  labors,  February  22d,  1857.  He  was  a  native  of  Lyons,  where 
he  was  born  in  1800.  He  came  over  with  Bishop  Loras,  and 
succeeded  Rev.  Mr.  Petiot  among  the  Winnebagoes,  building  a 
church  and  school  ;  but  our  anti-Catholic  Government  suppressed 
the  school,  and,  in  1848,  expelled  him  from  the  mission.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  there  were  about  twenty  churches,  attended 
by  nearly  as  many  clergymen,  seven  academies,  an  hospital,  and 
many  free  schools. 

The  Very  Rev.  Augustine  Ravoux,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the 
faith  in  Minnesota,  became  administrator,  and  directed  the  dio- 
cese with  ability  till  the  arrival  of  the  Right  Rev.  Thomas  L. 
Grace,  a  native  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  a  friar  of  the 
Order  of  Preachers,  who  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  St.  Paul, 
July  24th,  1859.  As  a  priest  and  Vicar-General  of  the  Diocese 
of  Nashville  he  had  evinced  qualities  which  led  to  his  appoint- 
ment by  the  Holy  See.  At  the  close  of  that  year  he  could  report 
thirty-one  churches  and  chapels  built,  and  seventeen  in  pro- 
gress. Twenty-seven  clergymen  ministered  to  these,  and  attended 
nearly  a  hundred  stations.     A  Protestant  writer  of  St,  Paul  says 


IK   THE    UNITED   STATES.  643 

of  hira  :  "  He  has  had  great  success  in  his  zealous  labors  in  this 
city  and  State,  increasing  the  church  greatly,  procuring  hirge 
additions  to  the  clergy,  opening  schools,  establishing  charitable 
institutions,  and  multiplying  churches.  He  is  warmly  beloved 
by  his  large  flock,  and  respected  by  other  sects  for  his  learning, 
piety,  amiable  character,  and  benevolence." 

There  was.  indeed,  steady  progress:  in  1865,  the  diocese 
numbered  thirty-seven  priests  and  sixty-three  churches ;  in 
1S75,  eighty -eight  priests  and  one  hundred  and  sixty -five 
churches,  an  addition  of  more  than  one  hundred  churches  in 
a  decade.  Under  Bishop  Grace  the  Oblates  of  Mary  Imma- 
culate took  charge  of  the  Pembina  mission,  and  spread  to  other 
parts  of  the  diocese;  in  1865  the  Sisters  of  the  Third  Order  of 
St.  Dominic  opened  Bethlehem  Convent  and  Academy  at  Fari- 
bault ;  and  the  School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  established  them- 
selves at  Mankato;  the  Benedictines  opened  St.  John's  College, 
about  1867 ;  the  next  year  the  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd 
founded  a  convent  and  reformatory  in  St.  Paul.  In  1872,  the 
Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools  undertook  the  direction  of 
schools  for  boys  at  St.  Paul ;  and  Sisters  of  the  Third  Order  of  St. 
Francis  began  their  labors  at  Belle  Prairie.  The  next  year  the 
Daughters  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  the  Visitation  Nuns,  founded 
a  monastery  in  St.  Paul ;  soon  after  Sisters  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  were  established  at  New  Ulm  and  St.  Anthonv;  and 
Sisters  of  Charity,  of  Madame  d'Youville's  rule,  planted  at  Fort 
Totteu  the  first  conventual  establishment  in  Dakota  Territory. 

Meanwhile  the  modest  Benedictine  Priory  of  St.  Cloud  had 
become  the  Abbey  of  St.  Louis  on  the  Lake,  the  Right  Rev. 
Rupert  Seidenbush  being  the  mitred  abbot. 

In  1875,  the  diocese,  embracing  the  State  of  Minnesota  and 
Dakota  Territory,  contained  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  churches, 
attended  by  eighty-eight  priests,  and  the  Catholic  population 
was  estimated  at  100,000  :    the  baptisms  in  Minnesota  being 


644  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

about  5,500,  and  in  Dakota  200.  The  illustrious  Pope  Pius  IX., 
by  his  brief  of  February  12th,  1875,  to  relieve  the  Bishop  of  St. 
Paul^  formed  the  northern  part  of  Minnesota  into  a  vicariate- 
apostolic. 

Since  then  Ursuline  Nuns  at  Lake  City,  and  Sisters  of 
Christian  Charity  have  begun  their  good  work  at  New  Ulm, 
Cbaska,  Minneapolis  and  Hendei'son,  while  churches,  priests  and 
population  are  about  as  they  were  before  the  division  of  the 
diocese. 

VICARIATE-APOSTOLIC   OF   KORTHERK   MINNESOTA,   1875. 

The  illustrious  pontiff,  Pius  IX.,  by  his  brief  of  February 
12th,  1875,  erected  into  a  vicariate-apostolic  that  part  of  Min- 
nesota including  and  north^  of  Travers,  Stevens,  Pope,  Stearns, 
Sherburne,  Isanti,  and  Chicago  counties  ;  and  part  of  Dakota 
Territory  east  of  the  Missouri  and  White  rivers,  and  embracing 
Burleigh,  Logan,  Laraoine,  Ranson,  and  Richland  counties,  and 
all  lying  north  of  them.  As  bishop  to  ^preside  over  this  new 
district  he  selected  the  Right  Rev.  Rupert  Seidenbush,  who  had, 
as  abbot,  done  so  much  to  spread  the  gospel  in  that  part.  He 
was  consecrated  Bisliop  of  Halia,  in  partihus  infideliiim,  May 
30th,  1875.  His  vicariate,  according  to  his  first  report,  con- 
tained 16,500  Catholics,  to  whom  twenty-nine  priests  minis- 
tered, attending  forty-two  churches  and  thirty-six  stations.  It 
could  boast  of  an  abbey,  a  college,  a  Benedictine  Nuns'  academy, 
one  directed  by  Franciscan  Sisters  ;  a  school  under  the  Sisters 
of  Charity,  and  a  number  of  Indian  missions.  With  this  nucleus 
it  has  progressed  favorably.  Though,  in  September,  1877,  Father 
Tomazin,  after  havino-  his  chapel  seized,  was  driven  from  his 
mission  by  United  States  troops. 


J 


I]S"   THE    Ui^lTED   STATES.  645 


.    CHAPTER    XLV. 


STATE  OF  KANSAS. 


Vicariate- Apostolic  of  Indian  Territory  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 

1850.— Eight  Eev.  J.  B.  Miege,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  Louis  M.  Fink,  O.S.B. 
Diocese  of  Leavenworth,  1877. -Right  Rev.  Louis  M.  Fink,  D.D. 

The  Indians  of  this  continent  have  always  been  the  object  of 
the  zeal  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Her  first  glories  in  our  his- 
tory are  her  devoted  sons,  Cancer,  Segura,  White,  Altham, 
Jognes,  Menard,  Marquette,  Gravier,  Margil,  Poisson,  Souel,  men 
^vho  gave  not  only  talent  and  life,  but  life's  blood,  to  save  the 
Indians.  The  course  of  our  Government,  unfortunately,  has 
been  fatal  to  the  red  man. 

One  of  the  projects  long  persisted  in  was  to  transfer  all  the 
Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Under  this  the  Catholic  Miamis, 
Winnebagoes,  Quapaws,  the  Spanish  Indians  of  Florida,  Chip- 
pewaws,  who  had  been  Catholics  for  a  century,  were  huddled 
together,  in  land  often  unsusceptible  of  culture,  and  cut  off 
from  all  CathoHc  guidance  and  direction.  The  system  was  cov- 
ered up  with  pretexts  of  national  grounds;  but  when,  in  spite  of 
Government  attempts,  it  was  found  that  the  majority  of  really 
active  missionaries  among  the  tribes  were  Catholic,  resort  was 
had,  in  the  administration  of  General  Grant,  to  divide  up  the 
agencies  among  the  various  religious  denominations,  few  being 
as-signed  to  Catholics  ;  and  many,  where  Indians  were  entirely 
Catholic,  being  assigned  to  Protestant  sects,  who  at  once,  with 
Government  aid,  began  to  tamper  with  the  faith  of  the  Indians. 

As  tribe  after  tribe  was  taken  from  dioceses  and  carried  be- 
yond tlie  existing  jurisdictions,  the  Second  Council  of  Baltimore, 
in  1833,  asked  that  these  tribes  should  be  placed  under  the  care 


646  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  the  Holy  See,  in  the  following  year, 
so  ordained.  Father  Van  Quickenborne,  accordingly  began  a 
Kickajioo  mission  in  1836. 

The  Pottawatamiee  of  St.  Joseph's  Eiver,  Indiana,  among 
^vhom  Badin,  in  1830,  revived  the  old  missions,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  earnest  priests  like  Desseille  and  Petit,  who  attended 
them  till  the  tribe  was  cairied  off,  in  1838,  by  United  States 
troops,  and  placed  at  Council  Bluffs, 

These  formed  a  second  mission,  and  a  third  of  the  same 
nation  was  formed  at  Sugar  Creek. 

The  Osages,  on  whom  a  Presbyterian  mission  had  been 
forced,  had  long  desired  priests,  especially  after  the  visits  of 
Rev.  Mr.  de  la  Croix  and  Father  Van  Quickenborne.  At  last, 
in  1846,  Father  Shoenmakers,  S.  J.,  began  a  mission  among 
them. 

The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  then  came  to  establish  schools 
for  the  Pottawatamies,  and  Sisters  of  Loietto  for  the  Kansas. 
The  Rev.  Peter  J.  De  Smet  was  made  the  procurator  of  the 
missions  ;  and,  finding  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  gene- 
rally indifferent  to  them,  he  appealed  to  Catholic  France  and 
Belgium,  and,  for  many  years,  drew  from  Europe  the  resources 
tliat  enabled  the  apostolic  men  to  continue  their  work,  besides 
enlisting  zealous  priests,  and  procuring  church  plate,  vestments, 
and  other  necessaries  for  the  mission. 

These  missions  were  under  the  See  of  St.  Louis  until  1850, 
when  the  Holy  See  erected  the  Vicariate-Apostolic  of  the  In- 
dian Territory  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  Rev.  Father 
John  B.  Miege  of  the  Society  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Mes- 
senia  in  partihus  infidelium  and  Vicar-Apostolic. 

From  the  mission  on  the  Kansas,  St.  Joseph's  Chapel  on 
Shunganon  Cieek,  that  of  the  Seven  Dolors  on  Mission  Creek, 
and  that  of  the  Sacred  Heart  at  Soldier  Creek,  were  regularly 
attended.      ^yhile    from    the    Osa^e   mission  the   Peorias,  the 


IN"   THE   UN"ITED   STATES.  647 

Miamis,  Quapaws,  and  Chcrokees,  as  well  as  scattered  bands  of 
the  Osages,  received  visits  of  the  zealous  priests.  The  whole 
Catholic  population  was  estimated  at  over  five  thousand. 

But  the  Indian  lands  were  soon  purchased,  and  settlers  began 
to  enter.  The  future  State  of  Kansas  became  a  battle-ground 
between  two  contending  parties.  As  both  were  from  parts  of  the 
country  where  Catholicity  had  least  influence — the  fanatical  New- 
Englander,  and  the  colonist  from  the  Slave  States — the  early 
population  did  not  give  a  large  proportion  of  Catholics.  Yet, 
in  1855,  the  bishop  had  erected  the  Church  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  at  Leavenworth,  which  has  since  been  the  episcopal 
residence.  Then  the  Benedictine  Fathers  from  St.  Vincent's 
Abbey  in  Pennsylvania,  founded  a  church  at  Doniphan,  Lecomp- 
ton  had  its  priest,  and  Indianola  its  chapel.  German  and  Irish 
settlements  soon  appeared  to  claim  pastoral  care  ;  and^  in  1858, 
the  Benedictines  were  erecting  a  German  church  at  Leaven- 
worth City,  their  pi'iory  being  removed  from  Doniphan  to  At- 
chison, where,  in  time,  they  founded  a  college. 

lu  a  few  years  the  Sisters  of  Charity  were  directing  an 
academy  at  Leavenworth,  and  devoting  themselves  to  works  of 
mercy. 

The  admission  of  Kansas  as  a  State  was  soon  followed  by  the 
civil  war,  but  emigration  flowed  in.  In  1863,  the  churches 
had  increased  from  sixteen  to  twenty-five  in  a  period  of  three 
years.  The  next  year  the  Carmelite  Fathers  began  their  labors 
among  theGeimans  of  Leavenworth  City,  and  a  convent  of  Ben- 
edictine Nuns  appears  at  Atchison. 

In  time  the  Pottawatamies  were  admitted  to  citizenship,  and 
many  took  up  farms,  the  rest  of  their  lands  being  sold  to  settlers. 
This  step,  which  was  not  generally  adopted  by  the  Osages, 
worked  badly.  The  missions  were  thus  broken  up,  although 
the  Manual  Labor  Schools  were  maintained.  The  Indians  who 
preferred  to  maintain  tribal  relations  were  removed  to  Indian 


G4S  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Territory,  and  many,  even  of  those  who  bad  elected  to  become 
citizens,  followed. 

In  1870,  the  Jesuit  Fatbers  began  a  college  at  St.  Mary's 
mission,  and  a  theological  seminary  was  added  to  the  institu- 
tions of  the  vicariate.  Leavenworth  had  an  hospital  and  orphan 
asylum,  and  there  were  fourteen  parochial  schools  in  operation. 

Meanwhile,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  sought  to  return  to  the 
position  of  a  missionary  in  his  order,  and,  on  the  11th  of  June, 
1871,  the  Benedictine  Dom  Louis  M.  Fink,  who  bad  been  ap- 
pointed his  coadjutor,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Eucarpia,  m 
partiius  infidelium.  Four  years  after  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
Miege  resigned,  leaving  the  State  which  he  and  the  Fathers  of 
his  order  had  found  a  wilderness,  with  only  Indian  inhabitants, 
a  thriving  member  of  the  Union,  with  a  Catholic  population  of 
forty  thousand,  fifty-nine  priests,  and  seventy-eight  churches  and 
chapels. 

On  the  22d  of  May,  1877,  the  Holy  See  erected  the  See  of 
Leavenworth,  and  Bishop  Fink  was  transferred  to  it.  At  the 
close  of  the  following  year  the  diocese  was  estimated  to  contain 
seventy  thousand  Catholics,  with  one  hundred  and  four  churches, 
three  colleges,  four  academies,  twenty  parochial  schools  with 
two  thousand  pupils.  The  Indians  who  formed  the  nucleus  of 
Catholicity  in  Kansas,  had  dwindled  to  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  living  near  St.  Mary's  Mission. 


m  THE    UNITED   STATES.  649 


CHAPTER    XLVI. 

STATE  OF   NEBKASKA. 

Vicaeiate-Apostolic  of  Nebkaska,  1851,— Right  Kev,  John  B.  Mlege,  D.D— Right 
Rev.  James  O'Gorman,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Raphanea,  1859-74  —  Right  Rev.  James 
O'Connor,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Dibona,  1876. 

Nebraska  formed  at  first  part  of  the  Vicariate-Apostolic  of 
Indian  Territory  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  when,  with 
the  influx  of  emigration,  settlements  were  formed,  a  brick  church 
sprang  up  at  Omaha,  in  1855,  before  any  Protestant  sect  had 
established  a  conventicle.  Then  Nebraska  City  and  St.  Pat- 
rick's Settlement  were  visited.  As  there  was  every  prospect  of 
the  rapid  increase  of  population  in  Nebraska,  the  Holy  See,  on 
the  9th  of  January,  1857,  made  it  a  separate  vicariate,  includ- 
ing also  the  Territories  of  Dakota,  Montana,  and  Wyoming. 
Bishop  Miege  governed  it  as  Administrator  Apostolic,  ad 
interim,  till  the  appointment  of  the  Right  Rev.  James  O'Gor- 
man, D.D.,  who  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Raphanea,  in 
partihus  i7ifideUiim,  and  Vicar-Apostolic,  May  8th,  1859. 
There  were  then  about  seven  thousand  Catholics  in  the  territory, 
including  the  Black  Feet  Indians,  among  whom  the  Jesuits 
were  conducting  a  mission. 

In  18G3,  we  find  the  Benedictines  at  Nebraska  City,  with  a 
school  under  their  care,  and  a  convent  of  Sisters  of  Mercy  at 
Omaha. 

Thiee  years  later  the  bishop  was  struggling  to  replace  the 
small  church  at  Omaha  by  a  larger  and  more  fitting  structure, 
but  his  flock  was  poor ;  there  were  but  two  brick  churches  in 
the  vicariate,  the  rest  being  of  frame  or  logs. 

In  18G8,  Montana  was  erected  into  a  separate  vicariate,  but 


650  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

no  bishop  was  ever  consecrated,  and  the  eastern  part  remained 
under  the  Vicar-Apostolic  of  Nebraska. 

Bishop  O'Gorman  died  at  Cincinnati,  of  cholera  morbus,  on 
the  4th  of  July,  1874.  He  was  a  native  of  Limerick,  born  in 
1809,  and  renounced  the  world  to  embrace  the  Cistercian  rule 
in  the  Trappist  Order,  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  He  was  one  of 
the  first  sent  to  America  to  found  New  Melleray,  of  which  he 
became  prior  on  the  promotion  of  Rev.  Clement  Smyth  lo  the 
episcopate.  Catholicity  had  made  but  a  feeble  beginning  in 
Nebraska  when  he  left  his  monastery  to  direct  it.  At  his  death 
there  were  twenty  priests  and  as  many  churches,  fifty-six  sta- 
tions, three  convents,  an  hospital,  an  orphan  asylum,  and  twelve 
thousand  Catholics. 

The  Very  Rev.  William  Byrne,  as  administrator,  governed 
the  vicariate  till  the  consecration  of  the  Right  Rev.  James 
O'Connor  as  Bishop  of  Dibona,  in  j^^ciiiibus  infidelkim,  and 
Vicar-Apostolic,  August  20th,  1876. 

The  munificent  bequest  of  Mr.  Creighton  enabled  the  new 
bishop  to  open,  on  the  2d  of  September,  1878,  Creighton  College 
at  Omaha,  under  the  direction  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus.  At  the  close  of  that  year  the  vicariate  contained  fifty- 
nine  churches,  most  of  them  in  Nebraska,  but  some  in  Wyoming 
and  Dakota.  The  Jesuits  from  Helena  and  St.  Peter's  mission, 
in  Montana,  attended  many  settlements  as  well  as  the  Black  Feet, 
Piegan,  and  Blood  Indians,  Crows,  Grosventres,and  Assiniboines, 
while  the  Benedictine  Abbot,  Martin  Marty,  and  his  monks,  at 
Standing  Rock  Agency,  Dakota  Territory,  visited  the  Indians  at 
Red  Cloud  and  Spotted  Tail  Agencies,  and  many  settlements. 
The  population  of  the  vicariate  was  estimated  at  39,000,  nine 
thousand  being  Indians. 


Iiq-  THE   UlS'ITED   STATES.  651 


CHAPTER     XLVII. 

COLORADO. 

Vicakiate-Apostolic  of  Colorado,  1868— Eight  Eev.  Joseph  Projectufl  Macheboeuf, 
D.D.,  Bishop  of  Epiphanla,  i«  partibus,  J868. 

Colorado,  east  of  tbe  Rocky  Mountains,  and  north  of  the 
Arkansas,  is  part  of  the  terriiory  claimed  by  us  as  part  of  ancient 
Louisiana,  and  thus  is  within  the  limits  of  the  original  diocese  of 
that  name.  In  the  Spanish  part  there  were  churches  at  Trini- 
dad, La  Costilla,  and  Los  Conejos,  with  dependent  chapels; 
but  the  discovery  of  rich  mines  in  the  more  northerly  portion 
drew  numbers  of  miners,  who  soon  founded  Denver,  Central 
City,  and  other  towns.  The  clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Santa  F6 
at  first  extended  their  ministry  to  these  new-comers,  but,  as  the 
increase  of  population  promised  to  be  rapid,  Colorado,  which  had 
been  made  into  a  State,  received  a  bishop.  The  Rev.  Joseph 
Projectus  Macheboeuf,  for  many  years  on  the  mission  in  New 
Mexico,  was  consecrated  on  the  IGth  of  August,  1868,  Bishop 
of  Epiphania,  in  partihus^  and  Vicar-Apostohc  of  Colorado,  his 
jurisdiction  extending  also  over  Utah. 

The  Sisters  of  Loretto  soon  opened  an  academy  at  Denver, 
an  hospital  was  begun  at  Central  City,  and  schools  in  various 
parts. 

At  the  close  of  1878  the  Catholic  population  was  estimated 
at  20,000.  There  were  thirty-three  churches  and  chapels  at 
Denver,  Boulder,  Golden  Cit}^,  Central  City,  Georgetown,  Colo- 
rado, Lcadville,  Alma,  Pueblo  Canon,  Los  Animas,  Trinidad, 
Costilla,  Conejos,  San  Louis,  Saguatche,  El  Carnero,  Lake  City, 
Apishipa,  San  Francisco,  and  Plaza  de  los  Jaramillos,  and  other 
points,  and  eight  in  progress  of  erection ;  and  twenty-one  priests 


652  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

■were  engaged  on  the  mission  ;  besides  the  Sisters  of  Loretto ; 
there  were  also  Sisters  of  Joseph  who  had  an  academy  at  Central 
City,  and  Sisters  of  Charity  who  had  a  similar  institution  at 
Trinidad,  and  a  Home  for  Invalids  at  Denver. 

A  flood  had  swept  away  church,  parochial  residence,  and 
school  at  Walsenburg,  but  pastor  and  people  were  zealously 
rebuilding. 


CHAPTER    XLVIII. 

IDAHO. 

Vioaeiatb-Apostolio  of  Idaho— Eight  Rev.  Louis  Lootens,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 
Castabala,  1868-76, 

The  Territory  of  Idaho  embraces  the  Rocky  Mountain  mis- 
sions, founded  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers  from  St.  Louis,  whose  his- 
tory is  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  the  annals  of  the  Church 
in  this  country. 

Catholic  Iroquois  from  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  gave 
the  Flathead  Indians  so  exalted  an  idea  of  the  Catholic  Indians 
that,  about  1830,  some  of  the  tribe  descended  to  St.  Louis  to 
obtain  black-gowns,  but  they  died  there  consoled  by  baptism. 
Two  years  after  one  of  the  Iroquois  came  on  the  same  holy 
errand,  but  was  killed  by  the  Sioux  on  his  return  ;  in  1839,  two 
Iroquois  came  as  a  third  delegation.  They  approached  the  sa- 
craments and  received  confirmation  from  Bishop  Rosati,  who 
promised  them  a  missionary.  In  fulfilment  of  this  promise  the 
Rev.  Father  Peter  John  De  Smet,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  set 
out  in  the  spring  of  1840,  and  erected  the  cross  at  the  Flat- 
head village.  In  two  morths  his  preaching  was  rewarded  by 
the  conversion  of  six  hundred,  including  the  head  chief  of  the 


11^   THE   UKITED   STATES.  653 

Flatheads  and  Pend-crOreillcs.  Seeing  so  large  a  field  open  to 
the  labors  of  Catholicity,  the  next  spring  he  returned  to  his 
mission,  with  the  Rev.  Father  Point,  a  native  of  La  Vendee, 
Rev.  F.  Gregory  Mengarini,  and  three  lay  brothers.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1841,  they  laid  out  the  first  mission  settlement  on 
Bitter  Root  River,  and  began  the  regular  services  of  religion 
among  the  Flatheads  and  Pend-d'Oreilles ;  the  Coeurs  d'Alc^ne 
immediately  applied  for  teachers.  While  Fathers  Point  and 
Mengarini  remained  at  the  mission,  instructing  the  docile  In- 
dians in  the  faith,  and  preparing  them  for  a  sedentary  life. 
Father  De  Sinet  visited  the  Kootenays,  Coeurs  d'Alfene,  Shuyelpi, 
and  Okanagans,  baptizing  many  after  due  instruction. 

Fathers  de  Vos  and  Hoecken,  with  three  lay  brothers,  joined 
the  mission  from  St.  Louis,  in  1813,  and  the  next  year  Father 
De  Smet  arrived  at  Vancouver,  in  a  vessel  from  Belgium,  with 
Fathers  Accolti,  Nobili,  Ravalli,  Vercruysse  and  Huybrechts, 
and  some  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame. 

There  were  soon  several  churches  among  the  Indians:  St. 
Mary's  among  the  Flatheads,  the  Sacred  Heart  among  the 
Coeurs  d'Al^ne,  St.  Ignatius'  among  the  Pend-d'Oreilles,  and  St. 
Paul's  among  the  Shuyelpi. 

These  missions  were  included  in  the  Vicariate- Apostolic  of 
Oiegon,  and,  on  the  erection  of  the  Province  of  Oregon,  in  the 
Fort  Colville  district,  while  the  southern  part  of  what  is  now 
Idaho  was  iu  the  district  of  Fort  Hall.  The  good  work  has 
been  maintained  to  the  present,  with  additional  missions  among 
the  Spokanes  and  Nez  Perces.  These  Catholic  Indians  have 
advanced  in  civilization,  have  never  been  engaged  in  hostilities 
with  the  whites,  and  are  recognized  by  Government  officers,  and 
all  who  know  them,  as  the  best  of  our  Indian  tribes. 

In  time  white  settlers  came,  and  priests  like  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Pouliu  and  Mesplic  began  to  labor  among  them. 

In  18G8,   the   Territory  of  Idaho,  and   Montana  Territory 


654  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

■west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  were  formed  into  the  Vicariate- 
Apostolic  of  Idaho,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Louis  Lootens,  D.D., 
was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Castabala,  i7i  partihus  i7ifideUum, 
and  Vicar- Apostolic,  on  the  9ih  of  August,  1868. 

There  vvere  at  this  time  churches  at  Idaho  City,  Placerville, 
Centreviile,  Pioneer,  and  Silver  City.  The  Sisters  of  Charity 
conducted  a  school  at  St.  Ignatius'  mission,  among  the  Peud- 
d'Oreilles  ;  and  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Names  of  Jesus  and  Mary 
had  an  academy  at  Idaho.  Granite  Creek  soon  had  a  church, 
and  became  the  residence  of  the  bishop ;  and  the  church  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  at  Deer  Lodge  City,  became  a  mission 
centre  for  a  number  of  stations.  The  growth  of  the  vicariate 
was,  however,  very  slow,  and  the  difficulties  very  great.  Bishop 
Lootens,  finding  his  health  rapidly  failing,  disabling  him  from 
the  severe  mission  duties,  resigned  the  vicariate,  and  his  resig- 
nation was  accepted  by  the  Holy  See,  July  19th,  1876.  The 
venerable  Archbishop  of  Oregon,  the  Most  Rev.  F.  N.  Blanchet, 
D.D.,  was  appointed  administrator,  and  has  since  governed  the 
vicariate. 

The  Catholic  population  was  estimated,  at  the  close  of  the 
year  1878,  at  five  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  : — three  thou- 
sand whites,  four  hundred  and  fifty  Flatheads,  one  thousand  five 
hundred  Pend-d'Oreilles,  four  hundred  Cceurs  d'Al^nes,  three 
hundred  Nez  Perces.  For  these  there  were  thirteen  priests, 
fourteen  churches  and  chapels,  an  academy  of  St.  Ignatius,  as 
well  as  a  school  and  hospital  at  Missoula  City,  under  the  Sisters 
of  Providence  ;  a  school  and  hospital  at  Deer  Lodge  City,  under 
Sisters  of  Charity  ;  and  schools  at  the  Nez  Perces  and  Coour 
d'Al^ne  missions. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  655 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 

STATE  OF   OREGON. 

Diocese  op  Oregon— Vlcariatc-Apostolic,  1S43.— Eight  Rev.  Francis  Norbert 
Blanchet,  D.D.,  1844— Archbishop  of  Oregon,  1846. 

Oregon,  visited  at  an  early  day  by  the  Spaniards,  and  subse- 
quently by  English  and  American  vessels,  was  explored  by 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  and  then  began  to  attract  attention.  As  a 
field  for  the  fur  trader  it  was  occupied  by  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  and  by  Americans  engaged  in  the  same  branch  of 
commerce.  Mr.  Astor,  amongst  others,  attempted  to  found  a 
post  there. 

All  these  mercantile  bodies  employed  Canadians,  and  Catho- 
lic Iroquois  Indians  from  Canada,  many  of  whom  settled  in 
the  Waliamette  Valley,  Oregon.  In  1824  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  established  a  fort  at  Vancouver,  in  what  is  now 
Washington  Territory ;  and,  under  the  government  of  Dr. 
McLoughlin,  more  Canadians  settled.  On  their  side  Protestant 
missionaries  and  settlers  began  to  arrive  in  the  country,  and  the 
Canada  Catholics  felt  that  they  must  make  an  efibrt  to  obtain  a 
clergyman.  They  applied,  in  1834,  to  the  nearest  bishop,  the 
Right  Rev.  J.  N.  Provencher,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Juliopolis,  on 
Red  River.  Though  the  appeal  touched  his  heart  he  could  not 
help  them.  "  I  have  no  priests  disposable  at  Red  River,"  he 
wrote ;  "  they  must  be  obtained  from  Canada  or  elsewhere." 
They  then  looked  to  the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  but  as  no  priest 
could  reach  Oregon  except  by  the  canoes  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  the  matter  was  deferred  on  various  pretexts.  At 
last,  in  1838,  Bishop  Signay,  of  Quebec,  was  notified  that  two 
priests  would  receive  passage  if  ready  in  April.  On  the  17th  of 
that  month  he  appointed  the  Rev.  Francis  Norbert  Blanchet, 


656  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUKCH 

then  parish  priest  of  the  Cedars,  in  the  district  of  Montreal,  his 
vicar-general  in  Oregon,  and,  as  a  second  missionary,  appointed 
the  Rev.  Modest  Demers.  He  gave  them  written  instructions 
for  their  guidance.  Oregon  was  thus  organized  as  part  of  the 
Diocese  of  Quebec;  but  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  in  view  of 
the  dispute  between  England  and  the  United  States  as  to  the 
ownership  of  the  territory,  required  that  the  Canadian  priests 
should  fix  their  residence,  not  on  the  Wallamette  south  of  Co- 
lumbia, which  they  feared  the  Americans  might  obtain,  but  north 
of  that  river,  at  Cowlitz. 

On  Wednesday,  October  10th,  1838,  the  vicar-general  said 
mass  on  the  summit  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and,  on  the  follow- 
ing Sunday,  the  first  mass  in  Oregon  was  said  at  Big  Bend  on 
the  Columbia,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Demers.  Their  labors  began 
at  House  of  the  Lakes  among  Canadians  and  Indians,  and  were 
continued  at  Fort  Colville,  Okanagan,  Wallawalla ;  they  reached 
Fort  Vancouver,  November  24th.  The  next  day  Vicar-General 
Blanchet  offered  a  solemn  mass  of  thanksgiving  in  the  school- 
house,  which  was  too  small  to  contain  the  crowd  of  Catholics 
who  came  from  all  parts,  many  of  whom  had  not  heard  mass 
for  ten,  fifteen,  and  twenty  years.  They  could  now  have  the 
priest  of  God  to  baptize  and  train  their  children,  to  administer 
the  sacraments  to  them  in  life  and  at  the  hour  of  death. 

The  two  priests  at  once  began  catechizing  and  instructing 
young  and  old,  and  training  them  to  the  usual  prayers  and  de- 
votions. The  Rev.  Mr.  Demers  made  and  distributed  the  first 
rosaries  used  in  Oregon.  Beginning  his  labors  among  the  In- 
dians he  prepared  "  The  Catholic  Ladder,"  a  kind  of  pictorial 
history,  easily  grasped  by  the  Indians,  and  which  long  served  as 
an  excellent  means  of  imparting  instruction. 

The  Cowlitz  settlement  and  Wallamette  Valley  were  ther\ 
visited.  At  Wallamette  Falls  a  log  church,  seventy  feet  by 
thirty,  had  been  erected  on  the  prairie,, east  of  the  river,  in  1836, 


IN"   THE   UKITED   STATES.  657 

as  soon  as  Catholics  heard  priests  were  coming.  The  vicar- 
gcneral  blessed  this  church  on  the  Feast  of  the  Epiphany,  1839, 
dedicating-  it  to  St.  Paid.  In  April  the  Rev.  Mr.  Demers  pro- 
ceeded to  Nesqually  and  gathered  the  Catholics  there.  The 
faithful  at  the  various  places  were  all  soon  organized,  and  mis- 
sion lands  taken  for  church  use.  St.  Francis  Xavier's,  a  loir 
chapel,  was  erected  at  Cowlitz.  Both  churches  soon  had  bells, 
which  regularly  rang  out  the  Angelus. 

All  the  posts,  and  many  Iridian  tribes — Chinook  and  Clack- 
amas— were  regularly  visited. 

In  1842,  the  Rev.  A.  Langlois,  and  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Z.  Bolduc, 
arrived  from  Canada  by  sea,  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  dispatching 
them  in  that  way  as  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  declined  to  give 
them  passage. 

Although  Protestant  missionaries  of  every  creed  were  stationed 
in  Oregon,  the  Catholic  priests  won  not  only  Indians  but  Pro- 
testants. Dr.  John  MfLoughlin  was  received  into  the  church, 
November  18th,  1842,  and  the  Hon.  Peter  H.  Burnett  the  next 
year  was  struck  by  the  clearness  and  beauty  of  the  Catholic 
faith  which  he  embraced. 

The  condition  of  the  church  in  Oregon  engaged  the  attention 
of  the  Fathers  of  the  Fifth  Provincial  Council  of  Baltimore,  and 
they  solicited  from  the  Holy  See  its  erection  into  a  vicariate- 
apostolic.  Pope  Gregory  XVI.  accordingly  established  the 
Vicariate-Apostolic  of  Oregon,  on  the  1st  of  December,  1843  ; 
but  appointed  the  Very  Rev.  F.  N.  Blanchet,  V.  G.,  Bishop  of 
Philadelphia,  in  part  thus. 

Father  De  Smet  arrived  the  next  year,  with  several  Fathers 
and  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  who  founded  an  academy  at  Sr. 
Paul  ;  a  college  was  opened  ;  and,  with  priests  at  Cowlitz,  Foit 
Vancouver,  Oregon  City,  St.  Paul,  the  bishop  elect,  leaving  the 
Very  Rev.  Mr.  Demers  as  vicar-general  and  administrator,  pro- 
ceeded to  Canada,  by  way  of  England,  and   was  consecrated  in 


658  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Montreal,  Bishop  of  Drasa,  May  7th,  1844.  He  then  proceeded 
to  Rome,  and,  laying  before  the  Holy  See  a  report  of  his  vica- 
riate, visited  Belgium  and  other  parts  of  Europe.  Before  he 
returned  to  America,  the  Holy  See,  on  the  24th  of  July,  184G, 
erected  sees  at  Oregon  City,  Wallawalla,  with  districts  at  Fort 
Colville,  Fort  Hall,  and  Nesqually,  and  a  see  at  Vancouver 
Island,  promoting  the  Bishop  of  Drasa  to  the  Archiepiscopal  See 
of  Oregon  City  ;  appointing  the  Rev.  A.  M.  A.  Blauchet,  Canon 
of  Montreal,  Bishop  of  Wallawalla ;  and  the  Very  Rev.  M. 
Demers  Bishop  of  Vancouver's  Island. 

The  archbishop  returned  in  1847  with  five  secular  priests, 
three  Jesuit  Fathers,  and  three  lay  brothers,  three  ecclesiastics, 
and  seven  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame. 

Meanwhile,  the  church  was  blessed  and  opened  at  Oregon 
City,  February  8th,  1846  ;  and  a  brick  church,  the  first  in 
Oregon,  one  hundred  feet  by  forty-five,  erected  at  St.  Paul's, 
which  was  dedicated  on  All  Saints'  Day ;  a  frame  church  was 
also  built  at  Vancouver. 

The  Bishop  of  Wallawalla,  who  had  been  consecrated  in 
Canada,  arrived  at  his  see  September  5th,  1847,  with  four  Ob- 
late Fathers  and  two  secular  priests;  and  on  the  30th  of  No- 
vember the  archbishop  consecrated  the  Bishop  of  Vancouver's 
Island.  The  Diocese  of  Oregon  was  thus  reduced  nearly  to  the 
present  State  of  that  name.  It  embraced  the  territory  between 
the  Columbia  and  the  Califurni.i  boundary,  the  Pacific  Ocean 
and  Sand  River  above  the  Cascades. 

The  new  missionaries  had  scarcely  begun  their  labors  when  a 
terrible  event  threatened  destiuction  to  all  the  missions.  The 
Cayuses  massacred  the  Rev.  Dr.  Whitman  and  his  wife,  Pro- 
testant missionaries  among  them  ;  and,  though  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Brouillet,  at  great  peril,  saved  the  life  of  another  Protestant 
missionary,  and  gave  decent  burial  to  the  victims,  a  fanatical 
part  of  the  community  has,  from  time  to  time,  sought  to  impli- 


m    THE    UlTITED   STATES.  659 

cate  the  Catholic  clergy  in  the  terrible  deed.  Impartial  Protes- 
tant writers,  familiar  with  all  the  facts,  have  then  and  since 
entirely  exculpated  the  Catholic  clergy,  whose  conduct  evinced 
every  Christian  kindness  ;  and  have  shown  how  Dr.  Whitman's 
disregard  of  Indian  prejudices  led  to  his  death. 

The  archbishop  took  up  his  residence  at  St.  Paul's,  on  the 
Wallamette,  and  some  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  at  St.  Francis 
Xavier's  in  the  valley,  whence  other  points  were  attended.  In 
a  few  years  the  archbishop  erected  the  Church  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  at  Oregon  City,  and  made  it  his  cathedral,  and  established 
a  school  there  under  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame ;  another  church 
was  erected,  in  honor  of  the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary,  at 
Portland;  another  church  stood  on  Big  French  Prairie,  and 
there  were  stations  at  Dayton,  Molalle  River,  Twalaly  Plain, 
Miiwaukie,  and  Astoria. 

On  the  28th  day  of  February,  1848,  the  First  Provincial 
Council  of  Oregon  was  held  at  St.  Paul,  by  the  Most  Eev. 
Archbishop  Blanchet,  and  his  suffragans,  the  Bishops  of  Walla- 
walla  and  Vancouver's  Island,  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Z.  Bolduc  being 
secretary.  Decrees  were  enacted  on  the  use  of  the  Roman 
Ritual,  holidays,  and  firsts  of  obligation,  on  special  offices  for  the 
province,  the  Benediction  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  devotion  to 
the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  and  the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary, 
on  the  Catholic  Ladder  and  the  ecclesiastical  dress. 

The  discovery  of  gold  in  California  drew  away  much  of  the 
population  of  Oregon,  and  many  of  the  rising  establishments 
were  broken  up,  so  that,  in  1855,  there  were  but  five  priests 
and  six  churches  in  the  diocese.  Yet  the  archbishop  did  not 
lo?e  courage.  To  minister  to  a  reduced  Catholic  body,  scat- 
tered over  a  large  State,  taxed  severely  the  health  and  strength 
of  the  clergy,  but  they  persevered.  The  loss  of  the  Sisters  was 
a  great  affliction  ;  but  in  a  few  years  his  Grace  obtained  a 
number  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Names  of  Jesus  and  Mary 


660  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

from  Canada.  They  arrived  in  Oregon  in  November,  1859, 
and  opened  an  academy  at  Portland,  and  the  next  year  similar 
establishments  at  Oregon  and  St.  Paul,  and,  in  1863,  at  Salem 
and  Dalles  City. 

Meanwhile,  Oregon  City,  which  had  promised  to  take  the 
lead,  gradually  declined,  and,  in  Angust,  1862,  the  Most  Rev. 
Archbishop,  after  fourteen  years'  residence  there,  removed  to 
Portland.  By  this  time  there  were  churches  and  pastors  at 
Jacksonville  (1859),  Corvallis  (1861),  Grand  Bond  (1862), 
Salem,  Yamhall,  Allen  Gulch  (1864),  and  Canyon  City  (1864). 

The  Grand  Roud  Indian  Reservation  has  been  under  the  care 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Croquet  since  September,  1860.  There  were 
in  the  diocese,  in  1878,  about  twenty  thousand  Catholics,  with 
twenty-two  churches  and  chapels,  attended  by  twenty-three 
priests.  The  Sisters  of  Providence  from  Canada  had  opened  an 
hospital  in  1875. 


CHAPTER    L. 

DIOCESE  OF  NESQUALLY. 
Diocese  of  Walxawalla,  1846.— Eight  Rev.  A.  M.  A.  Blanchet. 

In  the  division  of  the  Vicariate  of  Oregon  a  see  was  estab- 
lished at  Wallawalla,  to  which  the  Right  Rev.  A.  M.  A.  Blan- 
chet was  consecrated.  The  districts  of  Colville  and  Fort  Hall 
were  placed  temporarily  under  his  care. 

In  the  Cayuse  war,  which  followed  almost  immediately,  he 
was  driven  from  Wallawalla,  and,  in  June,  1848,  began  a  new 
mission  of  St.  Peter  among  the  Waskos  at  the  Dalles,  where  he 
erected  a  church.     The  mission  house  of  St.  Ann,  among  the 


IK  THE    UNITED   STATES.  661 

Cayuses,  in  1847,  and  the  following  year  the  Oblate  Fathers 
D'ilerbomez  and  Pandosy  began  missions  among' the  Yakanias, 
north  of  the  Columbia.  On  the  31st  of  May,  1850,  the  district 
of  Nesqually,  which  had  been  previously  under  the  Archbishop 
of  Oregon,  was  erected  into  a  diocese,  and  the  Bishop  of  Wal- 
lawalla  was  transferred  to  the  new  see  in  October.  He  took  up 
his  residence  at  Fort  Vancouver,  the  church  of  St.  James  be- 
coming his  cathedral.  His  diocese  contained  also  the  chapel  of 
Stella  Maris  among  the  Chinooks,  St.  Francis  Xavier's  on  Cow- 
litz River,  St.  Joseph's,  residence  and  a  church,  at  Steilacoon. 
The  Diocese  of  Wallawalla,  with  the  dependent  districts,  was 
then  governed  by  the  archbishop  as  administrator. 

Wlien  Washington  Territory  was  set  off  from  Oregon,  the 
Holy  See  suppres'^ed  the  Diocese  of  Wallawalla,  and  divided  it 
between  those  of  Oregon  and  Nesqually.  Soon  after  the  Colville 
district  was  placed  under  the  care  of  the  Bishop  of  Nesqually, 
giving  him  jurisdiction  of  all  Washington  Territory. 

In  the  Indian  war  of  1856  the  Oblate  Fathers  had  to  fly 
from  the  Yakama  mission,  and  their  mission  among  the  Cayuses 
was  burned  ;  they  subsequently  labored  among  the  Snokomish. 

In  1863  the  College  of  the  Holy  Angels  was  opened  at  Van- 
couver. 

By  1878  the  Cathohc  population  was  estimated  at  twelve 
thousand,  with  twenty-three  churches  and  chapels,  and  seven- 
teen stations,  attended  by  fifteen  priests.  There  are  still  Indian 
missions  at  Fort  Colville,  Yakima,  and  Tulalip. 


662 


THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 


CHAPTER    LI. 


INDIAN  TEimiTOKY, 


Peefecttjee- Apostolic  of  Indian  Teeeitort.— Right  Rev.  Dom  Isidore  Robot. 

The  tribes  originally  removed  to  Indian  Territory  were  the 
Cherokees,  Creeks,  and  Choctaws,  who  had  been  for  many  years 
under  the  care  of  Protestant  missionaries.  All  ti'aces  of  the 
early  Catholic  missions  had  been  lost.  But  in  time,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  Catholic  Quapaws,  Peorias,  Miarais,  Osages,  and  Pot- 
tawatomies  were  transferred  to  it.  These  Catholics  received 
some  aid  from  the  Diocese  of  Little  Rock,  and  from  Kansas ; 
but  at  last  the  Benedictines,  who  are  zealously  reviving  the 
glories  of  their  order,  entered  this  field  which  seemed  to  promise 
so  little.  They  belong  to  the  Casinese  Congregation  of  the 
Primitive  Observance,  the  principal  monastery  of  which  is  Sainte 
Marie  de  la  Pierre  qui  Vire,  in  the  Diocese  of  Sens,  France. 
They  founded  a  monastery  among  the  Pottawatomies ;  and, 
on  the  14th  of  May,  1876,  his  late  Holiness,  Pope  Pius  IX., 
erected  the  Prefecture  Apostolic  of  Indian  Territory,  commit- 
ting it  to  them,  and,  on  the  24th  of  June  in  the  following  year, 
erected  the  monastery  into  the  Abbey  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  The 
Right  Rev.  Dom  Isidore  Robot,  O.  S.B.,  has  three  Fathers,  three 
choir  monks,  and  several  chc^r  novices,  with  lay  brothers,  all 
engaged  in  instructing  the  Indians,  of  whom  there  are  more 
than  three  thousand  Catholics,  and  about  six  hundred  white 
Catholics. 

We  have  thus  traced  the  fifteen  dioceses,  vicariates,  and  pre- 
fecture within  the  limits  of  the  original  Diocese  of  Louisiana, 
including  the  Province  of  Oregon,  which,  ecclesiastically,  grew 
out  of  the  ancient  Diocese  of  Quebec,  before  statesmen  had 
drawn  the  political  boundaries. 


m   THE    Ui^ITED   STATES.  663 


CHAPTER    LII. 

STATE  OP   FLORIDA. 

Diocese  or  St.  ArorsTiNE.— Early  History— Dominican  Missions— The  Chnrch  at  St. 
Augustine— Indian  Missions  under  the  Jesuits  and  Franciscans— Episcopal  Visita- 
tions-Resident Bishop— Country  in  the  hands  of  England— Catholicity  restored— 
Sold  to  the  United  States— Under  the  Bishop  of  Louisiana— The  Vicar-Apostolic  of 
Alabama— Bishop  of  Mobile— Right  Rev.  Augustine  Verot,  D.D.,  Vicar-Apostolic  of 
Florida,  1S5T— Bishop  of  St.  Augustine,  1870— Right  Rev.  John  Moore,    D.D.,  1876. 

The  purchase  of  Florida,  in  1821,  added  to  the  United  States 
another  ancient  CathoHc  colony.  Before  any  attempt  was  made 
to  settle  the  country  the  pious  Dominican,  Father  Louis  Cancer, 
who  had  just  made  a  peaceful  conquest  of  the  tribes  of  Vera 
Paz,  was  sent  by  the  king-  to  attempt  the  same  in  Florida.  He 
was  not  insecsible  to  the  danger,  and  his  companions,  Fathers  of 
great  devotion  themselves,  urged  him  to  abandon  the  attempt, 
but  he  considered  his  orders  peremptory,  and,  landing  at  Tampa 
Bay  with  one  companion,  was  immediately  put  to  death. 

When  Melendez,  in  1565,  began  the  settlement  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, mass  was  said  on  the  first  landing,  September  8th,  and  the 
spot  was  ever  after  venerated  with  pious  care.  The  fleet  brought 
four  secular  priests,  the  licentiate  F.  L.  de  Mendoza,  a  native  of 
Xeres  de  la  Frontera,  being  the  first  vicar  and  superior.  He 
stationed  one  priest  at  San  Matheo,  on  the  St.  John,  which  had 
been  taken  from  the  French,  and  another  at  St.  Elena,  on  Port 
Royal  Sound.  A  church  was  erected  at  St.  Augustine,  and  a 
chapel  in  the  forts  at  that  place,  and  San  Mateo  and  Santa  Elena. 

Some  Dominicans  were  sent  northward  to  labor  among  the 
Indians,  but  they  went  to  Spain  and  did  not  return  to  the 
colony.  Melendez  then  applied  to  St.  Francis  Borgia  for  Jesuit 
missionaries,  and  Fathers  Martinez,  Rogel,  and  Segura  were 
sent.     Father  Martinez  was  wrecked  on   the   coast,  and   was 


664  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

killed  by  the  Indians,  in  October,  1566,  while  making  his  way 
to  San  Mateo.  The  others,  encouraged  by  a  letter  of  Pope  St. 
Pius  v.,  labored  zealously  in  Florida  and  at  Port  Royal  Sound, 
but  the  profit  was  small.  After  Father  Segura  with  Father 
Quiros  and  some  scholastics  were  massacred  ia  Virginia,  the 
Jesuit  Fathers  abandoned  Florida  and  went  to  Mexico. 

The  town  of  St.  Augustine  was  attacked,  in  1586,  by  the 
pirate  Drake,  who  destroyed  the  church  and  much  of  the  place, 
leaving  the  settlers  in  great  distress.  A  new  church,  however, 
soon  rose. 

Franciscans  then  came  to  labor  in  the  Indian  field.  They 
were  at  first  few,  but,  in  1592,  eleven  priests  and  a  lay  brother 
came  over,  and  a  series  of  missions  was  begun,  extending  from 
Tolemato,  now  the  cemetery  of  St.  Augustine,  and  Nuestra 
Senora  de  la  Leche,  northward  to  Amelia  Island.  Father  Pa- 
reja  translated  a  catechism  and  prayers  into  the  Timuquan  lan- 
guage, and  these  are  the  earliest  books  in  any  of  our  Indian  dia- 
lects. The  missions  prospered  till  1597,  when  a  young  chief, 
rebuked  by  Father  Corpa  at  Tolemato,  resolved  on  vengeance, 
and,  raising  a  war  party,  killed  the  missionary  as  he  knelt  in 
prayer  before  the  altar.  They  then  hastened  to  the  mission  of 
Father  Bias  Rodriguez  ;  the  brave  missionary  asked  to  be  al- 
lowed to  say  mass,  and  the  Indians,  permitting  this,  butchered 
him  at  its  close.  Fathers  Auiion  and  Antonio  de  Badajoz  were 
then  killed  at  Ossibaw,  and  Father  Velascola  at  Asao.  Father 
Avila  was  captured  and  underwent  fearful  tortures  at  the  hands 
of  the  Indians. 

This  was  a  terrible  blow,  but  the  mission  was  soon  reinforced 
by  other  devoted  men.  It  became  a  province  of  the  order  in 
1612. 

Florida  had  been  considered  as  part  of  the  Diocese  of  San- 
tiago de  Cuba,  and  one  of  the  bishops  is  said  to  have  made  a 
visitation  in  1595,  but,  in  1602,  Bishop  Juan  Cabezas  Altami- 


IN"  THE   UKITED   STATES.  665 

rano  visited  several  provinces  in  Florida  ^Yitll  great  hardship 
arid  peril,  and  was  greatly  affected  by  the  wretched  condilion  of 
the  natives.  On  his  way  hack  to  his  see  he  was  captured  by 
pirates  at  Yara,  and  rescued  with  great  difliculty. 

By  his  influence  twelve  more  Franciscan  Fathers  went  to  labor 
amoui^  the  Indians.  The  mission  at  Guale  was  restored,  and 
the  bodies  of  Fathers  Aunon  and  Badajoz  were  taken  up  from 
the  cross  at  the  foot  of  which  they  had  been  buried  and  placed 
in  a  more  honorable  spot.  In  the  ensuing  years  the  Franciscan 
missions  w^re  extended  with  the  most  consoling  results. 

The  parish  church  of  St.  Augustine  at  this  time  was  a  fine 
wooden  structure^  neatly  adorned,  but  the  little  chapel  of  the 
Franciscans  in  the  city  was  a  very  poor  one.  The  parish  church 
was  attended  by  the  vicar,  who  was  parish  priest,  and  by  the 
sacristan  mayor ;  and  there  was  also  a  chaplain  in  the  fort. 

The  missions  extended  not  only  along  the  coast,  but  overland 
to  Apalache ;  in  1638,  the  Indians  at  this  latter  place,  aroused 
by  the  oppression  of  the  governor,  rose  on  the  Spaniards,  and 
a  missionary  was  killed.  The  Timuqnans  were  subsequently 
driven  into  rebellion.  In  this  state  of  affairs  the  missions  de- 
clined ;  and  the  governor  used  every  effort  to  have  Florida 
made  into  a  vicariate  or  abadia.  This  was  not  done,  and  for 
some  years  religion  languished.  The  colony  was  reduced  to 
the  town  of  St.  Augustine,  w^hich  contained  only  three  hundred 
inhabitants. 

The  visit  of  Bishop  Calderon,  who  spent  eight  months  in 
Florida  in  1674,  led  to  happy  results.  The  missions  which  had 
revived  were  now  thriving,  and,  escorted  by  a  sufficient  number 
to  insure  safety,  he  penetrated  to  the  most  remote  points,  in- 
structing, giving  confirmation,  remedying  abuses,  and  exciting 
piety. 

In  1680,  the  Spanish  Government  endeavored  to  obtain 
secular  priests  to  undertake  the  Indian  missions  in  Florida,  but 


Q66  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

the  project  failed.  The  next  year  the  bishop  died  while  getting 
ready  to  visit  Florida.  As  new  Indian  troubles  arose,  the  king, 
in  1G88,  ordered  Bishop  Ebelino  to  visit  Florida.  As  he  was 
uuable  to  do  so  in  person,  he  dispatched  Machado,  a  learned 
priest,  but  his  authority  was  disputed. 

Ill  1702,  St.  Augustine  was  burnt  by  Moore  of  South  Caro- 
liua,  who  plundered  it,  but  failed  to  take  the  fort.  Two  years 
after,  the  English  invaded  Apalache,  destroying  the  missions, 
and  butchering  no  fewer  than  three  of  the  devoted  Franciscan 
Fathers,  with  many  of  the  Catholic  Indians,  and  bearing  away 
a  number  of  their  converts  to  sell  as  slaves. 

From  this  time  Florida  was  constantly  exposed  to  invasion 
and  attack  from  the  neighboring  colonies  and  their  Indian 
allies.  Yet,  amid  all  the  dangers  by  sea  and  land,  the  Bishop 
Auxiliar  of  Cuba,  in  1721,  visited  the  parish  and  missions  of 
Florida. 

A  few  years  after,  the  English  again  laid  siege  to  the  city,  and 
the  ancient  chapel  or  hermitage  of  Our  Lady  de  la  Leche  was 
razed  to  prevent  its  occujiation  by  the  enemy.  The  parish 
church  was  soon  after  ruined  ;  and,  when  a  bishop  auxiliar 
came  to  reside  at  St.  Augustine  for  a  time,  he  found  a  wretched 
chapel  the  only  place  for  divine  worship.  He  went  zealously 
to  work,  collectinof  at  home  and  abroad  means  to  make  it  some- 
what  decent  till  the  church  could  be  rebuilt.  He  also  estab- 
lished a  school,  and  began  to  afford  classical  instruction  to  the 
more  promising  youth. 

In  1743,  the  Jesuit  Fathers  attempted  a  mission  among  the 
Indians  on  the  keys  and  mainland  nearest  to  Cuba,  but  they 
found  the  natives  very  corrupt  and  dangerous. 

The  parish  church  was  finally  rebuilt  with  stone,  and  the 
chapel  of  Our  Lady  de  la  Leche,  the  Franciscan  chapel,  and  one 
other  also  of  stone.  When  the  English  obtained  Florida  they 
pulled  down  the  chapel  of  the  Confraternity,  retaining,  however, 


IN  THE    UNITED  STATES.  667 

the  steeple  as  an  ornament  to  the  town.  The  Franciscan 
church  and  convent  were  seized  and  used  by  the  soldiers  as 
barracks. 

The  Catholic  population  withdrew  almost  entirely,  and  the 
services  of  the  church  ceased  for  a  time  in  Florida.  But  a  new 
body  of  Catholics  was  soon  introduced.  A  Mr.  Turnbull  pur- 
chased a  large  tract  known  as  San  Pedro  de  Mosquitos,  or  New 
Smyrna,  and  introduced  one  thousand  five  hundred  Minorcans 
and  Greeks  to  cultivate  it,  promising-  them  the  services  of 
Catholic  priests.  His  treatment  of  the  emigrants  was,  however, 
so  unjust  that  one  of  the  two  priests,  for  remonstrating,  was  sent 
back  to  Europe.  At  length  one  of  the  number,  Francis  Pel- 
licer,  w^ith  a  number  of  others,  escaped  to  St.  Augustine,  and 
so  completely  convinced  the  governor  of  the  injustice  done  to 
them  that  he  gave  them  land  on  the  northern  part  of  the  city, 
where  they  erected  houses  and  live  to  this  day,  a  quiet,  indus- 
trious set  of  people.  A  grandson  of  the  energetic  Pellicer  is 
now  Bishop  of  San  Antonio,  Texas. 

Their  priest.  Dr.  Peter  Camps,  a  native  of  San  Martin  de 
Mercadel,  in  Minorca,  followed  his  flock  to  St.  Augustine ;  but 
the  parish  church  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Protestants,  the 
Franciscan  chapel  a  barrack,  the  other  two  chapels  in  ruins. 
He  accordingly  offered  the  holy  sacrifice  for  his  little  flock  in 
the  house  of  Carrera,  near  the  city  gate.  The  good  priest  kept 
religion  alive  during  the  British  rule,  and  died  among  his  flock. 
May  18th,  1790,  at  the  age  of  70. 

When  the  colony  was  restored  to  Spain,  in  1783,  two  Irish 
priests  were  sent,  and  mass  was  said  in  the  old  episcopal  resi- 
dence formerly  occupied  by  the  bishop  auxiliar,  since  appro- 
priated, under  some  pretext,  by  the  Episcopalians.  In  April, 
1792,  the  erection  of  a  large  church  was  begun,  which  was  dedi- 
cated on  the  Feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  1798. 

With  the  Spanish  re-occupation  settlers  returned  ;  and  a  gar- 


668  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUECH 

rison,  for  a  long  time  composed  of  the  Regiment  Hibernia,  was 
maintained  at  St.  Augustine.  There  was  an  army  chaplain  who 
attended  also  the  hospital  of  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe. 

Down  to  the  year  l?87j  Florida  remained  attached  to  the  See 
of  Santiago  de  Cuba,  but  when  that  diocese  was  divided,  and 
the  See  of  Havana  erected,  Florida  was,  by  a  decree  of  the  Holy 
See,  made  subject  to  the  new  see.  A  bishop  auxiliar  resided 
for  some  time  in  Florida,  extending  his  visitations  to  Louisiana. 
It  was  soon  evident  that  the  good  of  religion  required  a  bishop 
with  full  powers,  and  when  the  Diocese  of  Louisiana  was  erected, 
the  Letters  Apostolic  of  April  25th,  1792,  placed  Florida  under 
the  direction  of  Bishop  Penalver.  This  charitable  prelate  visited 
the  diocese,  regulating  many  matters,  giving  confirmation,  and 
encouraging  his  flock. 

While  the  parish  of  St.  Augustine  was  under  the  charge  of 
the  Rev.  John  Nepomucene  Gomez,  a  native  of  the  city,  another 
change  took  place.  The  United  States  acquired  Florida,  the 
Spaniards  retired,  and  the  Minorcans  were  left  without  a  priest. 
The  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  Havana,  which  had  been  re- 
vived after  the  retirement  of  the  Spaniards  from  Louisiana,  now 
ceased,  and,  in  1823,  when  the  erection  of  the  Vicariate- Apos- 
tolic of  Mississippi  and  Alabama  was  decided  upon,  Florida  was 
added  to  the  new  jurisdiction.  The  project  fell  through  at  the 
time,  but  when  the  Vicariate  of  Alabama  and  the  Floridas  was 
erected,  in  1826,  Bishop  Portier  set  earnestly  to  work  to  revive 
religious  feeling.  The  Catholics  at  St.  Augustine  recovered 
their  church  from  the  hands  of  the  United  States,  but  they  were 
incorporated  with  a  board  of  trustees.  These  men  closed  the 
cliurch  against  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mayne.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Rampon,  his  successor,  established  a  school  for  boys,  and  ob- 
tained Ladies  of  the  Retreat  who  opened  an  academy  for  young 
ladies. 

The  Rev.  B,  Madeore  endeavored,  but  in  vain,  to  recover  the 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  669 

ancient  Franciscan  convent ;  and  the  United  States  Government, 
to  this  day,  in  defiance  of  all  justice,  retains  possession  of  that 
Catholic  property.  The  Rev.  Edinond  Aubril  rendered  great 
service,  restoring  a  spirit  of  religion,  and  visiting  the  scattered 
Catholics. 

Florida,  which  once  had  its  church  at  St,  Auo-ustine,  with 
four  priests  and  succursal  chapels,  a  Franciscan  convent  with  its 
church,  and  lines  of  missions  extending  up  into  Georgia,  and 
across  the  peninsula,  now  had  but  a  single  church..  In  1844, 
we  find  the  Rev.  P.  Aubril  visiting  Feruandina,  Jacksonville,  and 
Amelia  Island,  as  well  as  Mandarin,  Picolata,  and  Black  Creek, 
and  he  could  soon  show  three  churches  in  his  district;  in  1846, 
Tallahassee  had  its  church  for  its  two  hundred  Catholics,  dedi- 
cated to  St.  John,  and  attended  by  the  Rev.  A.  Degaultieres; 
the  next  year  the  Rev.  Mr.  Corcoran  was  building  a  church  at 
Key  West ;  but,  in  1849,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Aubril  was  left  alone  to 
attend  to  St.  Augustine  and  all  East  Florida. 

When  the  See  of  Savannah  was  established  in  1850,  East 
Florida  became  part  of  the  new  diocese.  Father  Aubril  received 
some  assistance  soon  after  in  the  person  of  the  Very  Rev.  Felix 
Varela,  V.  G.,  of  New  York,  and  of  Rev.  Stephen  Sheridan, 
who  sought  in  St.  Augustine  restoration  of  health,  but  who  ren- 
dered essential  missionary  service.  The  church  at  Tallahassee 
had  been  burned,  but  the  Catholics  zealously  set  about  rebuild- 
ing it;  and  the  faithful  here,  and  at  the  small  frame  chapel 
at  Jacksonville,  were  attended  for  some  years  by  the  Right  Rev. 
Edward  Barron,  whose  health,  shattered  by  the  African  mission, 
was  benefited  by  the  aii-  of  Florida. 

The  authorities  in  Florida  had  urged  the  erection  of  a  see  or 
vicaiiate  two  centuries  ago ;  the  wish  was  realized  when  Pope 
Pius  IX.,  by  his  bull  of  January  9th,  1857,  erected  the  Vicariate- 
Apostolic  of  Florida.  The  Right  Rev.  Auo-ustine  Verot,  an 
able   and  learned   priest,  was  consecrated   Bishop  of  Danabe, 


J— 
I 


GiO  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

April  25tli,  1858,  and  was  installed  in  the  cathedral  of  St. 
Augustine  on  the  3d  of  June.  Bishop  Verot  was  born  in  Le 
Puvs,  France,  in  May,  1804,  and,  studying  at  St.  Sulpice,  en- 
tered that  congregation,  and,  in  1830,  came  to  Baltimore,  where 
he  taught  philosophy,  theology,  and  the  higher  mathematics, 
and  physical  science  in  St.  Mary's  College  and  Seminary  ;  and 
was  subsequently,  for  several  years,  missionary  at  Ellicott's  Mills. 
He  brought  to  his  vicariate  energy  and  zeal.  Mandarin  soon 
had  its  church  of  St.  Joseph  ;  Fernandiua,  one  in  honor  of  St. 
Michael,  to  commemorate  the  heroic  death  of  F.  Michael  Aunon. 
The  church  at  St.  John's  Bar  had  yielded  to  a  storm,  but  was 
rebuilding;  Tallaiinssee  had  its  church-of  St. Peter;  and  Tampa 
one  in  honor  of  St.  Louis,  to  commemorate  the  noble  sacrifice  of 
the  Rev.  Louis  Cancer ;  Key  West  had  a  church  of  St.  Mary  Star 
of  the  Sea,  and  new  stations  sprang  up.  Sisters  of  Mercy  came 
from  the  Diocese  of  Hartford ;  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian 
Schools  founded  St.  Augustine's  Academy,  on  Charlotte  Street ; 
schools  were  opened  and  religious  associations  established  among 
whites  and  blacks.  In  a  voyage  to  Europe  Bishop  Verot  obtained 
material  aid  and  six  good  priests.  In  1861,  he  was  transferred 
to  Savannah,  and  Florida  lost  the  presence  of  its  prelate.  Then 
came  the  civil  war,  during  which  the  Church  of  the  Imm.iculate 
Conception,  at  Jacksonville,  with  its  paiocliial  residence,  were 
destroyed  by  fire,  through  the  recklessness  of  the  soldiers  ;  and 
the  Brotheis  of  the  Christian  Schools  retired.  Florida  was  dear 
to  the  heart  of  Bishop  Verot,  who  was  full  of  veneration  for  the 
scene  of  so  much  heroism  in  the  early  days.  He  attended  the 
Vatican  Council,  where  he  v.as  by  no  means  idle,  speaking  fre- 
quently on  important  questions.  While  he  was  in  Rome,  His 
Holiness  Pope  Pius  IX.,  in  March,  1870,  raised  St.  Augustine" 
to  the  rank  of  an  episcopal  city,  and  Bishop  Verot  chose  it,  re- 
signing the  more  im!>ortani  See  of  Savanniih.  He  restored  the 
chapel  of  Our  Lady  of  Milk,  repaired  and  improved  his  cathedral. 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  G71 

The  temporary  slicd  at  Jacksonville  was  replaced  by  a  fine 
church  of  white  brick  ;  tlie  church  of  Key  West  was  enlarged, 
and  e^)bellii^hed ;  a  new  brick  church  was  begun  at  Fernan- 
dina;  and,  with  churches  at  Tallahassee,  Mandarin,  Pilatka,  and 
Tampa,  nineteen  in  all,  and  seventy  missions  in  various  parts, 
Florida  began  to  show  a  prosperity  as  in  early  days.  The  Sis- 
ters of  St.  Joseph  opened  academies  at  St.  Augustine,  Jackson- 
ville, Mandarin,  and  Fernaudina;  as  the  Sisters  of  the  Lloly 
Names  of  Jesus  and  Mary  did  at  Key  West  and  Tallahassee. 
The  good  works  effected  cost  the  bishop  over  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  his  personal  labors  as  a  missionary  were  incredible.  He 
died  suddenly,  a  victim  to  duty,  overcome  by  his  labors,  June 
10th,  1876.  ' 

The  diocese  was  governed,  during  the  vacancy,  by  the  Very 
Kev.  P.  Dufau,  as  administrator,  till  the  consecration  of  the 
Right  Rev.  John  Moore,  D.D.,  as  bishop.  May  13th,  1877. 
The  diocese  contained,  in  1879,  about  ten  thousand  Catholics, 
with  twenty  churches  and  chapels,  and  ten  priests  ;  there  are  six 
convents  of  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  and  of  the  Holy  Names,  the 
former  having  recently  opened  a  fine  academy  at  Pilatka. 


CHAPTER     LIII. 

STATE  OF  TEXAS. 


Diocese  of  Galveston.— Early  Franciscan  Missions— Labors  and  Martyrdom— Pre- 
fecture-Apostolic, 1S40— Vicariate-Apostollc  of  Texas,  1843— Iliglit  Kev.  John  M.Odin, 
D.D.,  Bishop  of  Galveston,  1847-1801- Right  Kev.  C.  M.  Dubois,  D.D.,  1862. 

DiocKSE  OF  Sax  Antonio.— Right  Rev.  A.  D.  Pellicer,  D.D.,  1874— Vicariatc-Apostolic 
of  Brownsville— Right  Rev.  D.  Manucy,  D.D.,  1874. 

The  Spaniards  at  an  early  period  traversed  Texas,  and  set 
np  the  arms  of  their  monarch;  but,  in  February,  1G85,  the 
French  explorer,  La  Salle,  passing  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi, 


672  THE  CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

apparently  by  design,  landed  in  Matagorda  Bay,  and  established 
Fort  St.  Louis.  Here  he  left  a  part  of  his  expedition  while  he 
proceeded  to  explore  the  conntry,  aiul  finally  perish  by  the  hands 
of  liis  own  men.  There  were  several  priests  connected  with  the 
expedition,  one  of  whom  returned  to  France ;  but  the  Recollect 
Fathers  Zenobe  Membrg,  Maxirae  Le  Clercq,  and  Anastasius 
Douay,  the  Rev.  Messis.  Cavelier  and  Chefdeville,  priests  of  St. 
Sulpice,  remained,  and  ministered  to  the  members  of  the  expedi- 
tion for  two  years.  When  La  Salle  set  out,  in  January,  1687, 
on  his  final  exploration,  Father  Anastasius  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Cavelier  accompanied  him,  but  the  rest  remained  in  the  fort. 
Of  their  subsequent  history  nothing  is  known,  the  fort  having 
been  destroyed  and  all  massacred  by  the  Indians  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Spaniards  under  Don  Alonzo  de  Leon  early  in 
1689.  The  site  of  the  first  chnpel  is  uncertain,  most  of  our 
writers  placing  it  on  the  Lavaca,  but  Spanish  contemporaneous 
documents  making  the  mission  of  Loreto  the  sjiot.  Don  Alonzo 
was  attended  on  the  march  by  Father  Damian  Macanet,  a  Fran- 
ciscan, who,  in  his  mission  hearing  of  the  French  settlement,  had 
reported  it.  He  found  the  Asinais  or  Cenis  so  friendly  that  he 
pioposed  estabhshing  a  mission,  and  was  sent  with  Leon,  in  1690, 
accompanied  by  the  Franciscan  Fathers  Fontcubierta,  Casafias, 
and  Bordoy.  They  established  the  mission  of  San  Francisco 
among  the  Texas  or  Asinais,  in  May,  1690.  Father  Casanas 
soon  founded  the  mission  of  Jepus,  Mary,  and  Joseph  near  the 
fii-st;  each  bad  a  plain  church  and  residence,  and  the  fathers 
visited  the  cabins  instructino-  the  natives.  An  epidemic  broke  out 
next  year,  during  which  they  baptized  many;  but  Father  Font- 
cubierta died,  February  5th,  1691. 

The  Spanish  Government  sent  anew  expedition,  under  Teran, 
to  colonize  the  countrj',  and  found  eio^h^  ^nis'-ions,  for  which  he 
took  ten  priests;  but  disease  swept  away  h,B  stock  and  many  of 
his  men,  and  he  returned  to  Coahuila.     The  two  missionaries 


MOST  T^EV.  JOHN   ]\rARY  ODTX.  D.D., 

I'irxt  Jli^hLp  Of  Galrt^ton.  yv.r«.v,  uiid  Sicoml  Arrhblxhop  of  Xnc  Orleans  La. 


( 


IX   THE    UNITED   STATES.  C73 

were  left  without  supplies  or  relief  till  October,  1G93,  when, 
after  eoncealing  the  vestments,  and  burying  ihe  bells,  they  re- 
turned to  their  college. 

About  the  year  1700  a  new  mission  w;is  established  on  the 
Sabinas,  or  Salinas,  a  branch  of  the  Kio  Grande  ;  and,  a  few 
years  after,  two  Fianciscau  Fathers  penetrated  to  the  country  of 
the  Asinais,  but  could  not  find  the  main  body  of  the  tribe. 

In  August,  1T15,  Don  Domingo  Ramon  was  sent  to  occupy 
Texas,  and  with  him  went  the  Veu.  Father  Antonio  Margil, 
witli  tour  priests  and  three  lay  brothers  of  his  order,  from  the 
missionary  college  of  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe,  and  five  from 
Queretaro.  The  holy  man  founded  six  missions  :  San  Francisco, 
among  the  same  tribe  as  the  former  mission  of  that  name ;  Pu- 
risima  Ooncepcion,  among  the  Bidais ;  San  Jos6,  among  the 
Nazones ;  Nuestra  Senora  de  Guadalupe,  at  Nacoglaches; 
Nuestra  Senora  de  los  Dolores,  at  Ays,  and  San  Miguel  at 
AdayeSj  each  with  its  little  church  and  convent,  and  all  re- 
quired for  divine  service.  A  Caddodacho  mission  was  subse- 
quently erected.  The  missionaries  labored  earnestly,  effecting 
much,  but  suffering  greatly  from  hardship  and  scarcity  of  food. 

A  war  with  Fiance  soon  broke  up  the  frontier  missions,  and 
the  fathers  fled  to  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  the  capital  of  the 
province;  but  the  Spanish  posts  were  soon  restored  and  the 
missions  revived.  The  Franciscan  Fathers  attended  the  Indian 
missions,  and  the  Spanish  presidios  or  |)Osts.  Early  in  the  career 
of  these  missions  Father  Jose  Pita,  O.S.F.,  was  killed  by  the 
Lipan  Apaches,  to  whom  he  was  going  to  preach  the  Gospel. 

Among  subsequent. missions  were  San  Xavier  and  Santa  Maria 
de  Loreto,  on  the  site  of  La  Salle's  fort.  The  founder  of  these 
early  Texas  missions  was  the  holy  Father  Antonio  Margil,  who 
afterv.ard,  as  guardian  at  Queretaro,  continued  to  guide  them. 
Several  fathers  died  gloriously  amid  their  labors ;  a  lay  brother, 
killed  by  the  Apaches;   another,  by  prairie  fires.     In  1730, 


674  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

the  missions  of  Concepcion,  San  Jnan,  and  La  Espada,  founded 
on  the  San  Marco,  ^ve^e  transfeiTed  to  the  San  Antonio  River, 
the  Rev.  Father  Bergara  being  then  president  of  the  Texas 
missions.  Meanwhile  San  Antonio  was  growing — the  Spanish 
kino-  orderinp-  colonists  to  be  sent  there.  It  soon  had  a  fine 
church  with  its  parish  priest. 

To  gain  proteciion,  the  mission  of  San  Francisco  Sohmo, 
which  had  moved  to  the  Rio  Grande,  was,  in  1718,  transferred 
to  the  San  Antonio. 

There  was  a  reluctance  on  the  part  of  the  civil  and  military 
commanders  to  aid,  by  presidios,  in  bringing  Indians  into  the 
missions,  so  that  several  dwindled  to  small  numbers.  In  1730, 
those  of  the  Concepcion,  San  Juan,  and  La  Espada,  were  also 
transferred  to  the  neighborhood  of  San  Antonio  ;  and,  besides 
the  neophites  which  they  brought,  they  soon  took  in  the  Pacaos, 
Paalat,  and  Pitalaque.  Fine  stone  churches  were  erected  which 
exist  to  our  day.  The  missions  at  Nacodoches,  Ays,  and  Adays 
were,  however,  maintained. 

New  missions  were  attempted  among  the  Apaches,  and  that 
of  St.  Francis  Xavier  was  founded  by  Father  Mariano  Fran- 
cisco de  los  Dolores,  followed  by  those  of  San  Ildefonso  and 
Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Candelaria.  Misconduct  of  the  officers 
drove  the  Indians  from  those  missions,  and,  in  1752,  Father 
Gonzabal  was  killed  by  the  Cocos.  The  missions  were  then 
removed  to  the  Guadalupe,  and  San  Saba  was  founded  by  Father 
Alonzo  Giraldo  de  Terreros.  In  March,  1758,  a  great  force  of 
Texas  and  other  Indians  suirounded  the  mission,  and  made 
Father  Alonzo  come  out  and  mount  a  horse  and  accompany 
them  against  the  Apaches;  he  was  no  sooner  mounted  than  he 
wns  killed  by  the  Indians  who  attacked  the  mission,  killing 
Father  Santiesteban,  and  wounding  Father  Molina.  In  1760, 
Father  Bartholomew  Garcia  printed  a  manual  for  the  use  of 
missionaries,  adapted  to  the  Pajalates,  Pacaos,  and  other  tribes. 


IN"   THE    UNITKl)    STATES.  G75 

In  ITGl  a  new  Apaclie  mission  was  founded,  and  maintained  for 
eight  years,  but  little  good  was  etrccted. 

At  some  presidios  the  Franciscan  Fathers  ofliciated  as  cliap- 
lains;  but  when  settlers  came  they  always  resigned  such  posi- 
tions to  the  secular  clergy,  and  the  missions  around  San  Antonio 
in  time  were  thus  transferred. 

Their  missions  continued  with  varying  result  till  1794,  when 
the  authorities  in  Mexico  ordered  them  to  be  secularized,  as  the 
Spanish  Cortes  did  again  in  1813.  All  the  clergy  of  the  province 
were  subject  to  the  Bishop  of  Guadalajara;  and  the  supervision 
was  not  nominal,  one  of  the  bishops  of  that  see  dying  from  the 
result  of  the  hardship  endured  in  a  visitation  of  Texas. 

The  Spanish  Government  sent  colonists  from  the  Canary 
Islands  and  from  Spain,  down  to  the  commencement  of  the 
present  century,  and  priests  were  assigned  to  the  new  settle- 
ments. The  province  having  become  part  of  the  Diocese  of 
Linares,  was  visited,  in  1805,  by  Bishop  Marin. 

The  revolt  of  Mexico  against  the  power  of  Spain  soon  fol- 
lowed, and  all  the  provinces  were  involved  in  civil  war.  Many 
Americans  crossed  to  join  the  insurgents  and  thus  made  known 
the  province.  When  Mexico  finally  established  her  indepen- 
dence religion  had  suffered  greatly,  and,  in  an  outlying  province 
like  Texas,  was  in  wretched  state.  In  1829,  Irish  colonists  were 
invited  to  the  new  State,  and  settled  near  the  Nueces ;  these 
Catholics  were  not  long  without  a  priest  of  their  own  race,  the 
Rev.  Henry  Doyle  and  Rev.  Michael  Muldoon  were  there  in 
1830.  There  were  Mexican  priests  at  San  Antonio,  Goliad,  and 
Nacogdoches;  the  Rev.  Father  Di as,  sent  to  this  last  station, 
having  been  killed  by  the  Indians  in  1832. 

American  settlers  were  also  invited  ;  but,  as  soon  as  their 
numbers  increased,  they  showed  their  discontent  with  the  irr<'- 
gular  government  that  lias  been  the  curse  of  Mexico.  They 
soon  raised  the  standard  of  independence,  and,  by  their  victory 


676  THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

at  San  Jacinto,  made  Texas  a  new  republic,  recognized  ere  long 
by  other  powers. 

Settlers  poured  in,  many  of  them  Catholics.  A  Count  Far- 
nese  carae  to  Texas  in  1836,  wiih  curious  proposals  tor  obtain- 
ing of  the  Pope  the  erection  of  an  archbishopiic ;  but  the 
Holy  See  proceeded,  with  its  usual  wisdom,  step  by  step.  In 
1840,  the  Very  Rev.  John  Timon,  a  Lazarist,'  who  had  been 
visitor  of  his  order,  and  had,  by  orders  from  Eome,  examined 
the  condition  of  the  church  in  Texas,  was  appointed  prefect- 
apostolic,  with  power  to  administer  confirmation.  He  was  then 
in  Missouri,  and  sent  the  Rev.  John  Odin  to  the  new  republic 
as  vice-prefect,  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Douterligne.  The  only  two 
priests  in  the  prefecture,  who  were  giving  great  scandal  at  San 
Antonio,  were  suspended.  The  prefect-apostolic  himself  reached 
Galveston  in  Deceujber,  18-10.  He  said  mass  there  and  gave  an 
impulse  to  the  erection  of  a  church,  as  he  soon  did  at  Houston  and 
Austin.  With  the  Rev.  Mr.  Odin  he  then  visited  many  points 
in  the  republic,  collecting  the  Catholics  and  preparing  for  future 
churches.  He  also  applied  to  the  Texan  Congress  for  the 
property  which  had  belonged  to  the  Catholic  Church  from  the 
settlement  of  the  province.  Several  of  the  ancient  churches  were 
soon  restored  by  the  republic. 

In  1842,  Texas  became  a  vicariate-apostolic,  and  was  placed 
under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Odin,  who  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Claudiopolis,  on  the  6th  of  March.  He  had  but  four 
priests  in  his  immense  district;  but,  fixino-  his  residence  at  San 
Antonio  where  there  was  a  fine  ancient  church,  he  repaired  it, 
and  erected  new  churches  at  Galveston,  Houston,  Lavaca,  Fort 
Bend,  St.  Augustine,  and  Nacogdoches,  and  opened  schools. 
The  ancient  churclies  were  regained  and  repaired.  To  meet 
the  want  for  priests  he  visited  Europe  with  success.  In  1847, 
Pope  Gregory  XVI.  established  the  See  of  Galveston ;  and 
Bishop  Odin  obtained  from  New  Orleans  a  colony  of  Ursuliue 


i:n"  the  united  states.  677 

Nun?,  who  fonndcd  a  convent  and  academy  at  Galvcsion,  with 
Mother  St.  Arsene  as  superior.  The  order  prospered,  and  soon 
founded  a  second  convent  at  San  Antonio  ;  the  Ladies  of  tlic 
Incarnate  Word  opened  an  academy  at  Brownsville  ;  and  the 
iM'otlicrs  of  Mary  established  schools.  In  1S54  the  Collcgo  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  began,  under  the  care  of  the  Oblatcs. 
The  number  of  Catholics  increased,  not  only  by  emigration  from 
foreign  countries  and  otlier  states,  but  also  from  Mexico.  Bishop 
Odin  was  untiring  in  his  visitations,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
was  once  nearly  drowned.  "When,  in  ISGl,  he  was  promoted 
to  the  See  of  New  Orleans,  Texas,  which  he  had  entered  with 
one  companion,  had  twenty- nine  secular  priests,  thirteen  re- 
ligious, fifty  churches,  a  college,  four  academies,  and  several 
schools. 

In  1856,  the  Conventual  Franciscans  revived  the  work  of 
their  fellow  Franciscans  in  the  previous  centnry,  and,  for  a  time, 
directed  the  college  at  Galveston  ;  and,  in  1859,  the  Benedictine 
Fathers  established  a  monastery  at  San  Jose,  and  attended  Ger- 
man missions  in  various  parts,  among  others  at  New  Braunfols, 
where  an  oiphan  home  and  academy  were  opened  by  Sisters  of 
the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis.  ' 

On  the  promotion  of  the  Most  Rev.  Dr.  Odin,  the  Very  Rev. 
C.  M.  Dnbuis,  who  had  been  for  years  a  missionary  in  Texas, 
was  raised  to  the  See  of  Galveston,  and  consecrated  November 
23d,  1802.  Although  his  diocese,  like  so  many  others,  was 
convulsed  by  the  civil  war,  he  had,  at  its  close,  established  a  new 
Uisulinc  convent  at  Liberty,  and  one  of  the  Sisters  of  the  In- 
cainiite  Word  at  Liberty.  Many  churches  had  been  imj)rov<'d, 
so  that  he  had  thirty -three  of  brick  or  stone,  and  twenty-two  of 
more  perishable  wood. 

The  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Doctrine  directed  the  college 
at  Galveston  ;  Austin  had  its  monastery  of  Sisters  of  Divine 
Providence  ;  and  Galveston  an  infirmary  and  asylum  under  Hos- 


678  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

pital  Sisters,  who  soon  extended  to  San  Antonio  and  Houston. 
In  1872,  ^Ye  find  the  Sisters  of  the  Agonizing  Heart  of  Jesus  at 
Clarksville,  instructing  the  young  and  visiting  the  sick.  The 
Fatiiers  of  the  Resurrection  also  came  to  attend  the  Polish 
immigrants. 

On  the  3d  of  September,  1874,  Pope  Pius  IX.  divided  this 
vast  diocese,  which  had  a  Catholic  population  of  about  200,000, 
with  eighty-three  priests,  eighty-five  churches,  and  one  hundred 
and  sixty-five  chapels ;  and  a  new  see  was  erected  at  San  An- 
tonio, while  a  district  on  the  Rio  Grande  became  the  Vicariate- 
Apostolic  of  Brownsville. 

Thus  reduced,  the  Diocese  of  Galveston  comprises  only  that 
part  of  Texas  lying  east  of  the  Colorado  River.  At  the  close  of 
the  year  1878,  it  contained  thirty-five  churches,  attended  by 
forty-one  priests ;  had  a  college;  Ursuline  convents  at  Galves- 
ton and  Dallas ;  academies  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  at  Waco, 
Corsicana.  Denison,  and  Sherman  ;  convents  of  the  Incarnate 
Word  at  Galveston  and  Houston  ;  and  of  Sisters  of  the  Agoniz- 
ing Heart  at  Clarksville, 

DIOCESE   OF   SAK   ANTONIO,    1874. 

The  Diocese  of  San  Antonio,  as  erected  September  3d,  1874, 
comprised  that  portion  of  Texas  lying  between  the  Colorado 
River  and  the  Nueces.  The  labors  of  Bishops  Odin  and  Dubuis 
had  not  been  without  fruit.  The  Rev.  Anthony  Dominic  Pe- 
llcer,  a  native  of  St.  Augustine,  Florida,  and  long  an  active 
priest  in  the  Diocese  of  Mobile,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  San 
Antonio  on  the  Feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  in  the  year 
1874.  On  taking  possession  of  his  diocese  he  found  about 
thirty  priests,  forty  churches,  seven  chapels,  and  forty  thousand 
Catholics.  His  episcopal  city  had  its  Ursuline  convent  and 
academy  ;  a  college  under  the  direction  of  the  Biothers  of  Mary  ; 
an  asylum,  hospital,  and  parish  school  under  the  Sisters  of  the 


Iiq"   THE    UXITED    STATES.  G79 

Incarnate  Word ;  while  other  parochial  schools  wore  attended 
by  Sisters  of  the  Immacnlate  Conception,  and  Sisters  of  Divine 
Providence.  Victoria,  Castroville,  and  Martinez  also  had  con- 
vents ;  and  Sisters  of  Meicy  were  laboring  at  Indianola  and  its 
missions. 

A  rescript  of  the  Propaganda,  in  1877,  added  to  the  jnrisdic- 
tion  of  the  See  of  San  Antonio  the  part  of  the  Vicariate  of 
Brownsville  north  of  the  Arroyo  de  los  Ilermanos,  and  San 
Mignel. 

At  the  close  of  1878  the  diocese  comprised  forty-seven  chnrches 
and  eight  chapels,  with  thirty-seven  priests;  there  were  three 
colleges,  twelve  academies  for  young  hidies,  twenty  parochial 
schools,  and  -45,000  of  Catholic  population. 

VICARIATE-APOSTOLIC   OF   BROWXSVILLE,   1874. 

The  Vicariate  of  Brownsville  was  to  coniprise  the  country 
between  the  Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande.  The  Rev.  D.  Manucy, 
D.D.,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Dulma,  in  partibus^  on  the 
8th  of  December,  1874,  and  became  vicar-apustolic.  He  fixed 
his  residence  at  Corpus  Christi.  He  found  the  Catholic  popu- 
lation of  about  thirty  thousand,  mainly  Mexican ;  for,  though 
after  the  Texan.  Revolution  the  Mexicans  generally  withdrew, 
many,  unable  to  endure  the  tyranny  of  their  own  country,  sougiit 
a  refuge  on  the  American  side.  They  had  become  unsettled, 
and  did  not  acquire  fixed  residences.  The  bishop  at  once  found 
a  great  want  of  priests  speaking  Spanish. 

There  were  only  five  churches,  eleven  chapels,  and  seventeen 
priests  in  his  vicariate  ;  and  convents  at  Corpus  Christi,  Browns- 
ville, and  Laredo  ;  and  a  college,  under  the  Oblates,  at  Browns- 
ville. 

In  1877,  a  rescript  from  the  Propao-anda  added  to  the  vica- 
riate a  portion  of  Live-Oak  County,  with  the  counties  of  Bee, 
Goliad,  Refugio,  San  Patricio,  and  Aransas.     At  the  end  of  the 


680  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

following  year  there  were  ten  cliurcbes,  nnd  twelve  chapels, 
attended  by  twenty-two  priests ;  and,  in  addition  to  the  con- 
vents noted,  others  of  the  Sisters  of  Mary  at  San  Patricio  and 
Refugio,  with  a  Catholic  population  estimated  at  30,000, 


CHAPTER    LIV. 

TERBITORY  OF  NEW  MEXICO. 

Diocese  of  Santa  Fe.— Early  History— Franciscan  Missions— Subject  to  Bishops  of 
Gaudalajara  and  Durango  —  Eight  Rev.  John  B.  Lamy,  D.D.,  Vicar- Apostolic, 
Bishop  of  Sante  Fe,  /u'chbishop. 

Led  by  the  report  of  the  existence  of  civilized  tribes  in  the 
interior,  the  Italian  Franciscan  Father  Mark,  frona  Nice,  pene- 
trated to  New  Mexico,  in  1539,  but  was  not  able  to  make  any 
permanent  mission. 

Id  1543,  Father  Juan  de  Padilla,  and  Brother  John  de  la 
Cruz,  of  the  same  order,  penetrated  to  Quivira,  with  Coronado's 
expedition,  and  remained  when  th£  Spanish  force  retired.  While 
proceeding  to  the  spot  fixed  for  their  mission  they  were  surprised 
and  killed  by  roving  Indians. 

In  1580,  Brother  Augustine  Rodriguez  projected  a  new  mis- 
sion, and  Fathers  John  de  Santa  Maria,  and  Francis  Lopez, 
were  sent  with  him.  They  reached  Tiguex,  and  found  the  people 
favorably  inclined.  A  mission  was  begun  and  a  temporary  con- 
vent and  chapel  erected.  Father  John  set  out  to  report  the 
auspicious  opening,  but  was  surprised,  while  asleep,  by  Indians, 
who  rolled  a  huge  stone  upon  him.  Father  Francis  was  soon 
after  killed  by  an  ariow  during  an  attack  of  wild  Indians  on  the 
town.  Brother  Augustine,  left  alone,  endeavored  to  instruct  the 
natives,  but  they  finally  killed  him. 


IN   THE   UNITED    STATES.  681 

Don  Juan  de"On:ite  reduced  the  country,  in  1595,  and  Father 
Roderic  Duran,  who  accoiiipanic^d  tlie  expedition,  erecti  d  a  con- 
vent at  San  Gabriel  del  Yunque,  the  first  town  established. 
Aided  by  Father  Alonzo  Martinez  he  converted  many. 

The  otiier  early  missionaries  were  Fathers  Francis  de  San 
Miguel,  Francis  do  Zamora,  John  do  Losas,  Alonzo  de  Lugo, 
Andrew  Corch:ido,  and  Christopher  Salazar. 

About  the  year  1600,  San  G;ibriol,  the  capital  and  chief  white 
settlement,  assumed  its  present  name  of  Santa  Fe  ;  the  church 
was,  for  some  years,  a  poor  one,  all  energy  being  given  to  those 
in  the  Indian  missions. 

Among  subsequent  missionaries  Father  Jerome  de  Zarate 
Salazar  is  said  to  have  converted  more  than  six  thousand  of  the 
Jemes  and  of  the  Qneres. 

By  the  year  1G20,  Father  Benavides,  in  a  report  to  the  king, 
gives  most  consohng  accounts.  Among  the  Piros  there  were 
three  missions  of  the  Franciscans,  each  with  a  church  and  resi- 
dence :  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  at  Senecn  ;  Our  Lady  of  Succor, 
at  Pilabo ;  St.  Louis  Bishop,  at  Sivilleta,  a  town  which  they 
had  restored.     This  whole  tribe  had  become  Christian,  Amonor 

o 

the  Tioas  seven  thousand  were  baptized,  and  there  were  two 
missions  with  five  churches  :  St.  Francis  at  Sandia,  and  St.  An- 
thony at  Isleta.  Th.e  Queres  were  all  converted,  and  had  three 
churches  ;  the  Tompiras  six  ;  the  Tanos  and  Pecos  each  one  ; 
among  the  Teoas  the  church  of  St.  Ildephonsus  was  very  fine. 
The  Hemes,  though  much  reduced  by  war,  had  two  missions  : 
San  Jose  and  San  Diego. 

Otiier  tribes  had  afforded  greater  difficulties  ;  the  Picuries 
tried  to  assassinate  their  missionaries,  but  finally  hearkened  to 
them  ;  the  Taos  at  last  became  docile  ;  and  when  the  Spaniards 
stormed  the  height  of  Acoma,  that  tribe  received  a  missionary; 
Zimi,  where  the  power  of  the  medicine  men  was  great,  had, 
nevertheless,  ten  thousand  Christians. 


682      ,  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

Missions  were  sent  to  the  Moquis,  Apaches,  Navajos,  and 
Xumanas.  It  was  among  these  last,  not  a  New  Mexican  tribe, 
that,  as  Father  Benavides  believed,  and  recounts  in  a  tract  of 
great  rarity,  the  Venerable  Maria  de  Jesus  de  Agreda,  borne  in 
spirit  to  America,  imparted  a  knowledge  of  the  faith.  Every 
mission  had  a  school,  where  the  children  were  taught  to  read, 
write,  and  sing. 

In  1645  there  were,  besides  the  churches  in  tlie  Spanish  set- 
tlements, twenty-five  missions  directed  by  sixty  Franciscan 
Fathers,  among  the  various  pueblos. 

The  attempt  to  suppress  nagualism,  or  secret  pagan  rites, 
with  injustice  received  from  the  Spaniards,  led  the  Jemes  to 
revolt  in  1640,  and  similar  outbreaks  followed  for  several  years. 
The  Spaniards,  whose  settlements  had  increased,  seemed  un- 
conscious of  danger,  when  suddenly,  in  1680,  the  storm  burst. 
The  Indians,  led  by  Pope,  rose  on  August  10th,  massacred  their 
missionaries,  and  all  Spaniards  whom  they  could  find.  Father 
Morador  was  killed,  by  a  series  of  cruelties,  at  Jemes ;  Fathers 
Figueroa,  Maldonado,  and  Mora  at  Acoma;  Fathers  Analisa, 
Espinosn,  and  Calsada  at  Zuui ;  Fathers  Vallarde  and  Lom- 
barde  among  the  Moquis.  The  Father  Gustos  Juan  Beinal  was 
also  murdered,  with  several  lay  brothers,  making  in  all  twenty- 
one.  The  Indians  then  invested  Santa  Fe."  Governor  Oiermin, 
by  a  vigorous  sally,  drove  them  off;  but,  feeling  unable  to  hold 
the  place,  ma  Ic  a  forced  march  to  Paso  del  Norte,  with  all  the 
whites,  carrying  what  they  could,  Oiher  Spaniards  had  reached 
Isleta,  but  all  retreated  beyond  the  linjits  of  the  province,  and 
encamped  at  San  Lorenzo. 

Nearly  all  churches  ;ind  convents  were  destroyed  by  fire,  and 
every  sign  of  Christianity  suppressed. 

At  the  end  of  the  next  year  Governor  Otermin  recovered  Is- 
leta, and  the  mission  was  restored  by  Father  Ayeta.     The  expe- 


IIS"  THE    UNITED  STATES.  683 

dition  advanced  to  Sandia,  but  did  not  deem  it  safe  to  trust  the 
Indians,  and  retired. 

In  1G92,  under  Diego  de  Vargas  Zapata  finally  reconquered 
the  country,  and  Spanish  settlers  returned.  Gradually  the  old 
system  revived.  Eight  Franciscan  Fathers  were  sent  to  restore 
religion  in  New  Mexico,  in  1693;  missions  were  again  estab- 
lished, with  churches  and  schools.  The  children  born  during 
the  absence  of  the  missionaries,  to  the  number  of  two  thou- 
sand, were  baptized.  Among  the  distinguished  missionaries 
of  this  time  were  Father  Diez,  and  Father  Cabanas,  who  was 
stationed,  in  1693,  at  the  Heme  pueblo  of  San  Diego.  He  re- 
stored the  church  and  convent ;  instructed  old  and  young  with 
zeal  ;  but,  on  the  4th  of  June,  1696,  he  was  treacherously  called 
out  to  visit  a  sick  man,  and  was  put  to  death  by  a  band  of 
Apaches,  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  in  his  cemetery. 

The  province  of  New  Mexico  was,  at  first,  under  the  Bishop 
of  Guadalajara,  but,  when  the  See  of  Durango  was  erected,  the 
churches  in  that  part  were  placed  under  the  care  of  its  bishop. 
Some  of  these,  at  great  peril  and  hardship,  visited  the  New 
Mexico  part  of  their  diocese;  but,  from  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  no  bishop  had  been  seen  there  for  more  than  fifty 
years. 

Early  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  erection  of  a  see  at 
Santa  F6  had  been  uiged  :  and,  though  a  royal  decree,  and  a 
special  bull  of  the  Pope,  in  1777,  ordered  the  erection  of  a  col- 
legCj  nothing  was  done. 

In  1798,  the  Custos  Provincial  had  eighteen  Fathers,  with 
twenty-four  missions  ;  in  1805,  they  had  increased  to  twenty-six 
Fathers  and  thirty  missions.  In  1812,  there  were  twenty  Indian 
pueblos,  and  one  hundred  and  two  Spanish  towns,  or  ranches,  all 
attended  by  Franciscan  Fathers,  except  Santa  Fe,  Albuquerque, 
and  Santa  Cruz  de  la  Canada,  where  secular  priests  were  sta- 
tioned. 


684  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUllCH 

With  the  Revohition  came  religion's  decline.  The  schools 
for  wliites  and  Indians,  so  long  maintained,  were  neglected ;  un- 
worthy priests  injured  religion  rather  than  encouraged  it. 

At  last  the  Mexican  war,  terminating  in  the  treaty  of  Gua- 
dalupe Hidalgo,  transferred  New  Mexico  to  the  United  States. 
The  Holy  See  was  thus  free  to  act,  and  at  once  created  a  vica- 
riate-apostolic  in  the  territory  ;  and  the  Kight  Rev.  John  Lamy 
was  appointed,  and  consecrated  Bishop  of  Agathonica,  in  j^ctr- 
tihiis  infidelkim,  November  24th,  1850.  His  flock  comprised 
about  eight  thousand  Indians,  and  sixty  thousand  Mexicans. 
There  were  in  the  vicariate  twenty-five  churches  and  forty 
chapels.  The  clergy  were  all  Mexican,  except  one  who  accom- 
panied the  bishop.  Dr.  Lamy  at  once  established  schools,  and 
obtained  Sisters  of  Loretto,  who  opened  an  academy  at  Santa 
Fe,  January  1st,  1853. 

The  same  year  the  See  of  Santa  Fe  was  established,  and 
Bishop  Lamy  was  transferred  to  it,  on  the  29th  of  July.  He 
devoted  himself  quietly  but  earnestly  to  the  good  of  his  dioceses, 
replacing  unworthy  priests  of  the  old  regime  by  zealous  and  ex- 
emplary missionaries,  erecting  new  churches  where  needed,  and 
encouraging  piety  by  confraternities  and  pious  associations.  A 
preparatory  seminary  for  ecclesiastics  was  soon  established,  and, 
in  1860,  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Doctrine  opened,  in 
Santa  Fe,  the  College  of  San  Miguel. 

In  1861,  Colorado  and  Arizona  territories  were  under  his 
care,  and  a  Navajo  mission  was  begun  at  Bosque  Kedondo. 
The  next  year  Sisters  of  Charity  opened  an  orphan  asylum,  to 
which  they  added  an  hospital ;  and  Moras,  Taos,  and  Albuquer- 
que soon  had  convent  schools,  under  the  Sisters  of  Loretto, 
and  the  two  former  boys'  schools  directed  by  the  Brothers.  Tlie 
Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who  entered  the  diocese  in  1867, 
directed  the  churches  at  Bernalillo,  Albuquerque,  and  La  Junta, 
establishing  a  select  school  of  a  high  order ;   in  1875,   they 


IX   THE    UXITED    STATES.  C85 

opened  St.  Mary's  College  at  Las  Vegas,  and  liave  rendered  great 
SL-rviceby  publishing  a  religious  paper  iu  Spanish — the  "  lievista 
Catolica." 

The  Diocese  of  Santa  Fc,  Avithits  people  of  Spanish  origin, 
and  subject  to  constitutions  established  under  the  Spanish  bishops, 
with  holidays  and  ceremonies  at  variance  with  those  of  the 
other  diocc  ses  of  the  province  of  St.  Louis,  did  not  seem  natu- 
rally connected  with  it.  The  Holy  See  accordingly,  in  1875, 
raised  the  see  to  the  archiepiseopal  dignity. 

At  the  close  of  1878,  Archbishop  Lamy  had  a  new  cathedral 
in  course  of  erection;  twenty-nine  parish  churches,  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  chapels,  regularly  attended  ;  fifty-two  priests  ; 
six  convents;  two  colleges;  charitable  institutions;  and  a 
Catholic  population  of  one  hundred  thousand  Mexicans,  eight 
thousand  Indians,  and   one  thousand  Americans   or  Europeans. 

The  progress  of  religion  has  been  most  consoling:  and  the 
Catholics  may  rejoice  at  being  under  a  Government  where  reli- 
gion is  free.  The  only  drawback  is,  that  government  has  attempted 
to  carry  on  Protestant  propagandism  among  the  Pueblo  Lidians. 
General  Grant,  though  pretending  fairness,  assigned  these  Li- 
dians, among  whom  Catholic  missionaries  had  been  laboring  for 
three  hundred  years — where  the  soil  of  every  pueblo  was  stained 
with  the  blood  of  martyred  Catholic  priests — assigned  this  field 
to  a  little  sect  calling  themselves  Christ-ians ;  and,  when  they 
declined,  to  the  Presbyterians.  Better  far  had  Government 
helped  to  maintain  the  pueblo  schools,  so  long  maintained  by 
the  Franciscans,  for  want  of  which  the  Indians  who,  in  Spanish 
times,  could  read  and  write,  are  now  growing  up  in  ignorance. 


686 


THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH 


CHAPTER    LV. 

TEERITORT  OF  ARIZONA. 

Vicaeiate-Apostolic  of  Akizona,  1869.— Early  History— Jesuits— Franciscans— Right 
Rev.  John  B.  Salpointe. 

The  missions  of  the  Jesuils  in  Mexico  were  pushed  b}'  the 
German  Father  Kiihn  to  the  Colorado,  in  1700,  and  a  new 
series  of  missions  was  founded  in  Souora,  with  settlements  of 
whiles,  developing  the  resources  of  the  country.  These  extended 
to  the  Pimas  and  Papagos  on  the  Gila,  where  Father  Kiiha 
established  several  stations,  and  churches  were  built  in  various 
parts  which  for  beauty  were  inferior  to  none  in  America.  Part 
of  the  country  thus  evangelized  is  included  within  the  present 
territory  of  Arizona. 

The  most  advanced  of  aU  the  missions  was  San  Xavier  del 
Bac,  near  which  was  the  presidio  or  garrison  of  Tucson.  The 
missionary,  in  1761,  was  Father  Ildefonso  Espinosa,  who  found 
in  the  v;ist  number  of  Indians  in  his  district — Pimas,  Papagos, 
and  Sobaipuris — abundance  to  exercise  his  zeal.  South  of 
this  was  the  presidio  of  Tubac,  and  near  it  the  mission  of  Gue- 
vavi,  where  the  German  Father  Ignatius  Pfeffercorn,  who  sub- 
sequently wrote  a  history  of  Sonor.i,  was  then  stationed.  He 
attended  also  the  Papago  towns  of  San  Miguel  de  Sonoitac,  Ca- 
lahazas,  and  Tumacacori.  A  fourth  station  had  been  destroyed 
in  the  Pima  outbreak  of  1751,  when  those  Indians  cruelly  put 
to  death  Father  Henry  Ruhen,  at  Sanoitac. 

Tubac,  too,  had  its  martyr  in  Father  Joachim  Rodrigues  Key, 
pastor  of  that  place,  killed  by  the  Apaches,  while  visiting  his 
flock,  in  1755. 

On  the  suppression  of  the  society  these  missions  were  as- 
signed to  the  Franciscans,  and,  in  1767,  fourteen  fathers  of  that 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  G87 

order  proceeded  to  continue  the  labors  of  tlic  Jesuits.  AraouL;' 
tliose  at  Guevavi,  with  its  presidio  Tubac  and  stations,  was 
Fatlier  John  Chrysostoni  Gil  de  Bernave,  who  labored  zealously 
till  he  was  crippled  bv  disease  ;:nil  compelled  to  retire.  .  When 
he  recovered  his  health  he  was  sent  to  Ures,  and,  founding  a 
mission  at  Carrizal,  was  killed  there  in  1773. 

The  missionary  at  San  Xavier  del  Bac  was  the  famous  Father 
Francis  Garces,  who,  in  his  apostolic  journeys,  visited  the  tribes 
on  the  Gila  along  its  course,  and  in  the  towns  of  the  Moqui, 
and,  descending  the  river,  made  his  way  to  San  Gabriel  in  Cali- 
fornia. In  the  epidemics  that  prevailed,  his  missionary  visit 
brought  salvation  to  many.  Finding  the  Yumas  well  disposed 
he  projected  missions  among  them,  which  were  approved.  The 
mission  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  del  Bicuner  was  founded  and 
placed  under  the  care  of  Fathers  Juan  Diaz  and  Matliias  Moreno; 
and  that  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  under  Fathers  Garces 
and  Barreneches ;  but  the  treacherous  Indians  destroyed  the 
missions  and  killed  the  fathers,  in  July,  1781. 

This  district  had,  like  New  Mexico,  been  part  of  the  Diocese 
of  Guadalajara,  and  was  transferred  to  Durango  on  its  erection. 
In  1783  a  bishop  was  appointed  for  Sonora :  and  an  eflfort  was 
made  to  form  a  province  of  the  Franciscans. 

In  1797,  the  Church  of  San  Xavier,  which  had  been  fourteen 
years  in  progress,  was  completed.  It  is  a  beautiful  brick  build- 
ing of  Byzantine  architecture,  with  rich  interior  ornamental 
paintings,  and  basso-rilievos  about  the  principal  altars.  There 
are  more  than  forty  statues  in  niches  on  each  side  of  the  main 
altar. 

The  missions,  amid  all  the  political  changes  and  hostile  Indian 
attacks,  enjoyed  no  little  prosperity,  and  were  self-supporting 
down  to  1822.  Six  years  later,  all  missionaries  born  in  Spain 
were  driven  out ;  the  bishop  had  not  secular  priests  enough  for 
the  parish  churches:  the  Franciscan   missionaries  dwindled  to 


688  THE    CATHOLIC    CHUKCH 

three  ;  tlie  old  funds  which  had  so  long  maintained  the  missions 
vanished,  the  Indians  wandered  off,  sinking  back  into  barbarism. 

The  Bishop  of  Sante  Fe  souglit  to  revive  the  good  accom- 
plished by  the  Jesuits  and  Franciscans,  and  mass  was  again  said 
in  the  long-deserted  churches  of  Tucson,  Tubac,  San  Xavier  del 
Bac,  Aribaca,  and  Santa  Anna,  but,  as  the  district  was  too  laige, 
the  Holy  See,  in  18G9,  made  Arizona  a  vicaiiate-apostolic,  under 
the  care  of  the  Hight  Rev.  John  B.  Salpointe,  D.D.,  who  was 
consecrated  June  20tb,  1869. 

The  vicariate  comprises  the  territory  of  Arizona,  the  southern 
part  of  New  Mexico,  known  as  the  Mesilla  Valley,  and  the 
County  of  El  Paso  in  the  State  of  Texas. 

The  rich  mines  from  which  the  Apaches  had  driven  the 
Spaniard  and  the  Mexican  were  now  attracting  the  daring 
American  miner,  and  towns  were  springing  up. 

The  bishop,  besides  the  parish  churches  at  Tucson,  and  that 
at  San  Xavier  del  Bac,  with  its  ancient  memories,  the  chapel  of 
San  Agustin,  and  the  parish  church  at  Las  Cruces,  had  priests 
at  Colorado  City,  who  also  attended  Fort  Yuma,  Prescott  City, 
La  Paz,  and  AVeaver,  all  places  created  by  the  new  emigrants. 
He  secured  Sisiers  of  St.  Joseph  and  of  Loretto  to  open  schools 
at  Tucson  and  Las  Cruces. 

Li  a  few  years  new  names  and  more  old  names  appear  side  by 
side.  In  1874:  the  Catholic  populatiou  had  sixteen  churches  and 
chapels,  and  was  estimated  at  sixteen  thousand  two  hundred  and 
twenty,  including  fifteen  hundred  Papagos.  These  were  at 
first  placed  by  Government  under  the  Catholics,  but,  in  a  short 
time,  they  were  taken  away,  in  defiance  of  every  principle,  and 
given  to  a  Protestant  denomination,  in  order  to  harass  and  pro- 
voke the  Catholic  Indians  and  their  Catholic  teachers,  succes- 
sors of  those  who  had  shed  their  blood  on  that  very  soil  while 
announcing  the  Christian  faith. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1878  the  Catholic  population  had 


IN   THE   UNITED   STATES.  C80 

risen  to  thirty  tliousaiul,  with  about  eii;litecii  hundred  convi'rh  d 
Indians.  Tliere  \\\mc  fourteen  priests,  eighteen  chun-hes  and 
chapels,,  an  hospital,  live  parochial  schools.  Tjjc  Sister's  ot"  St. 
Joseph  had  academies  and  schools  at  Tucson  and  Yuma,  and  an 
hospital  at  Prescott ;  the  Lorelto  Sisters  an  academy  at  Las 
Cruces. 


CHAPTER    LVI. 

CALIFORXIA,    NEVADA,    AND   UTAn. 

Diocese  op  both  CALiFORNiAS.-Early  missions— Right  Rev.  Francis  Garcia  Dlogo, 
D.D. 

Diocese  of  Monterey,  1850.— Right  Rev.  F.  S.  Alemany,  D.D.— Division  of  the  Dio- 
cese-Right Rev.  Thaddeus  Amat,  D.D.— Right  Rev.  Francis  Mora,  D.D. 

Diocese  of  San  Feaxcisco,  1853.— Most  Rev.  F.  S.  Alcniauy,  D.D. 

ViCAEiATE-ArosTOLic  OF  Mahyville,  1861.  —  Right  Rev.  Eugene  O'C  nncll,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  Flaviopolis— Bishop  of  Grass  Valley,  18G8. 

California  was  discovered  in  the  days  of  Cortez  the  con- 
queror of  Mexico,  but  its  occupation  by  Christianity  and  civiliza- 
tion came  many  years  after.  The  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass  was 
offered  at  Monterey,  on  a  temporary  altar  beneath  an  oak  tree, 
in  1601,  by  Father  Andrew  of  the  Assumption,  and  Father 
Anthony  of  the  Ascension,  religious  of  the  order  of  Mount  Car- 
mel.  A  vicar-ecclesiastic  of  California,  appointed  by  the  Bishop 
of  Gandalajar.i,  entered  the  peninsula  in  ]G32;  ten  years  after 
began  the  famous  Jesuit  mission?,  which  lasted  till  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  society.  At  that  time,  working  steadily  northward, 
they  had  nearly  reached  the  limits  of  our  present  State. 

The  missions  were  then  confided  to  the  Franciscan  Fathers, 
who,  under  Father  Juniper  Serra  as  superior,  f('und<'d  the  mis- 
sion of  San  Fernando  de  Vellicata,  in  Lower  California,  in 
January,  18G9.     Leaving  a  missionary  here,  the  superior  pro- 


690  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

ccoded  to  San  Diego,  where  he  established  a  mission,  July  IGth, 
1769,  among  the  Coinayas.  A  chapel  and  house  were  at  once 
erected  ;  but,  before  the  missionaries  could  begin  their  labors, 
the  Intlians  made  an  attack,  killing  a  boy  belonging  to  the 
parly,  and  wounding  Father  Vizcaino. 

San  Carlos  mission,  at  Monteiey,  was  founded  the  next  year, 
and  ihe  field  seemed  so  promising  that  ten  more  Franciscan 
Fathers  were  sent.  After  celebrating  Corpus  Christi,  in  1771, 
with  great  pomp  at  Monterey,  Father  Serra  established  the  mis- 
sion at  San  Antonio,  among  the  Telames,  July  14th,  1771,  the 
first  missionaries  being  Father  Michael  Pieras,  and  Father  Bo- 
naventure  Sitjar ;  the  latter  of  whom  soon  composed  a  grammar 
and  dictionary  of  the  language  of  his  flock,  printed  in  our  day. 
Oiher  missions  soon  arose  :  Mount  Carmel,  San  Gabriel,  in  Au- 
gust; San  Luis  Obispo,  in  September,  1772. 

Just  as  the  mission  of  San  Juan  Capistrano  had  been  founded 
the  terrible  tidings  came  that  the  Indians  had  set  fire  to  the 
mission  of  San  Diego,  and  killed  Father  Louis  Jayme,  who, 
awakened  by  the  fire  and  noise,  went  out  to  meet  his  neophytes 
with  words  of  holy  greeting.  He  was  pierced  with  arrows  and 
mangled  with  rude  swords.  The  other  missionary  held  out  in 
the  house  till  relief  came  from  the  presidio  or  little  fortified  sta- 
tion placed  near  each  mission. 

Tliis  did  not  check  the  zeal  of  the  Franciscans,  who  founded 
the  mission  of  San  Francisco,  June  27th,  1776,  and  Santa  Clara, 
January  6th,  1777. 

At  each  of  these  missions  a  fine  church  and  buildings  were 
erected  ;  the  Indians  were  collected,  instructed,  and  baptized. 
They  were  tiained  to  agriculture,  and  the  various  trades,  and 
became  industrious  and  skilful.  Each  mission  was  a  little  com- 
munity, managed  by  the  missionaries,  who,  remaining  poor 
themselves,  prepared  their  converts  to  be  self-supporting^  and 
made  their  tribe  rich  in  well-cultivated  and  well-stocked  farms. 


IN"  THE   UNITED  STATES.  C91 

The  missions  were  subject  to  Father  Serra  as  prcfoct-apostolic ; 
the  Holy  See,  by  a  bull  of  June  IGlh,  J 774,  einpowfiinir  l,i,„  to 
confer  the  sacrament  of  confirmation.  Before  this  remark.iblo 
and  holy  man  died,  in  August,  177-1,  he  ha<l  the  eoiisolation  of 
seeing  ten  thousand  Indians  baptized  in  the  ten  missions,  and 
the  faith  solidly  and  permanently  planted  in  Upper  California. 

The  carrying  out  of  the  missions  was  facilitated  by  the  in- 
come of  a  fund  created  in  the  time  of  the  Jesuit  missions  by 
charitable  benefactors,  and  known  as  "  The  IMous  Fund  of 
California." 

The  presidios,  at  first  garrisons  for  the  defence  of  the  missions, 
became  each  a  nucleus  of  a  white  settlement,  prospering  by  the 
trade  created  by  the  religious  establishmenis.  In  this  way  the 
Indians,  instead  of  being  a  charge,  as  with  us,  encouraged  in  idle- 
ness and  nomadic  habits,  became  self-supporting,  and  a  source 
of  prosperity  to  the  whole  district. 

Under  Father  Francis  Palou,  the  next  prefect,  the  missions  of 
La  Purisima  Coucepcion,  Santa  Cruz,  Solediid,  were  founded. 
To  these  his  successor,  Father  Lazven,  added  San  JosC',  San 
Miguel,  and  San  Fernando  Rey,  in  1797  ;  San  Louis  Rey  in  the 
following  year,  and  San  Juan  Bauti^ta  in  1799.  Father  Lazven 
died  in  1803,  and  the  missions  of  Santa  Inez  and  San  Rafael 
closed  for  a  time  the  progrer^s  of  the  propagation  of  the  faith. 
Europe  was  convulsed  by  the  wars  of  the  French  Revolution, 
and  before  their  close  Mexico  was  lost  to  Spain,  and  fell  into  the 
hands  of  adventurers  by  no  means  friendly  to  the  church.  An 
earthquake,  in  1812,  destroyed  some  of  the  churches  and  build- 
ings, as  though  foreboding  a  coming  ruin.  In  the  same  year 
Father  Quintaua  was  killed  by  the  Indians  near  the  mission  of 
Santa  Cruz. 

Besides  the  missions,  there  had  grown  up  during  the  Spanish 
rule  three  pueblos  or  towns,  peopled  chiefly  by  discharged  sol- 
diers and  their   families :    these   were   Nuestra    Senora  de  los 


692  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

Ano-elcp,  San  Jose,  near  the  Santa  Clara  mission,  and  Branci- 
forte  near  Monterey.  As  the  country  was  still  considered  as  in 
the  mission  state,  the  Spanish  Government  did  not,  as  was  once 
usual,  erect  and  endow  parish  churches  in  these  towns,  whose 
population,  in  1835,  were  estimated  at  about  two  thousand  five 
hundred.  They  depended  entirely  on  the  priests  at  the  nearest 
Indian  missions. 

After  the  Mexican  rule  was  cstabhshed  only  one  mission,  that 
of  San  Francisco  Solano,  was  founded.  The  new  government  was 
not  slow  in  showing  its  hostility  to  religion.  A  system  of  spoli- 
ation and  wrong  began.  Father  Sanchez,  the  prefect,  died  of 
grief  in  1831.  In  1832,  an  act  of  Congress  dissolved  the  mis- 
sions, and  pretended  to  divide  their  property  among  the  Indians 
and  settlers.  In  fact,  however,  a  few  of  the  leading  men  seized 
the  whole  ;  the  mission  Indians  were  scattered  without  resource 
or  guide,  and  the  devoted  missionaries  left  without  means  of 
support.  The  people  had  not  been  in  the  habit  of  giving  to 
maintain  the  church  and  pastor,  and  left  the  priest  utterly  help- 
less. Yet  the  missionaries  clung  to  their  posts,  enduring  the 
greatest  hardships  ;  one  of  them,  Father  Sarria,  actually  falling 
dead  at  the  altar,  of  pure  starvation,  a  martyrdom  without  ex- 
ample, and  a  terrible  reproach  to  the  Mexican  residents.  New 
missionaries  were,  however,  sent  in  1833. 

The  repeal  of  the  act  in  1835,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
mission  property,  came  too  late  to  save  the  Indian  converts, 
although  it  relieved  the  clergy  to  some  extent.  Steps  were 
taken  to  insure  the  future  religious  instruction  of  the  peo])le, 
and,  in  1840,  the  Holy  See,  on  the  27th  of  April,  erected  the 
Diocese  of  both  Californias,  and  appointed  as  fii-st  bishop  the 
Very  Rev.  Father  Francisco  Garcia  Dic^go,  who  had  for  some 
time  directed  the  missionaries  as  prefect.  San  Diego  was  named 
as  his  residence,  but,  at  his  request,  he  was  permitted  to  remain 
at  Santa  Barbara. 


IX   Tin:    UNITKD    STATES.  C93 

The  mij^sion  Tnditms  liad  been  rcdiiccHl  IVom  tliirtv  tliousand 
to  four  thousand  ;  but  tlierc  seemed  to  be  ofcneral  joy  at  llio 
C(nningof  a  bishop,  a  dionitaiy  whom  few  Calitbniians  h:id  cv.-r 
beliehh  Santa  Barbara  rccoived  liim  on  ilm  11th  of  Januirv, 
18-12.  wi'.h  every  demonstration  of  joy  and  respect,  tiie  enliiusi- 
nstic  inhabitants  taking  the  hors<s  from  the  carriage  which  m.-t 
him  at  the  L-inding,  and  dragging  him  themselves  to  the  mission 
church. 

Fully  aware  of  the  wants  of  liis  diocese,  Bishop  Diego,  at 
once  prepared  to  erect,  at  Santa  Barbara,  a  converit  of  Francis- 
cnn  Fathers,  and  a  theological  seminary,  as  well  as  a  suitable 
cathedral  and  residence;  but  the  income  of  "The  Pious 
Fund  of  California"  was  withheld,  as  the  Mexican  Gov.'rnment 
had  appropriated  the  property  in  which  it  was  invested,  and 
California  had  no  generous  Catholics  to  form  a  similar  fund. 
In  184-1,  however,  he  obtained  a  grant  of  thirty-five  tliousand 
acres  of  land,  by  means  of  which  he  established  a  college  at 
Santa  liiez  mission.  He  did  not  live  long  enough  to  accom- 
plish much  in  the  difRculr,  position  in  which  he  was  placed, 
dying  at  Sania  Barbara,  April  oOth,  18-46. 

The  Very  Rev.  J.  M.  Gonzalez  became  the  ailministrator  of 
the  diocese  ;  and,  in  a  few  months,  saw  the  M(^\ican  ting  low- 
ered, and  that  of  the  United  States  raised.  The  treaty  of  (iua- 
dalupe  Hidalgo  made  California  permanently  American. 

Settlers  from  all  parts  of  the  country  began  to  enter  the  new 
acquisition  ;  and,  when  gold  was  discovered  in  1848,  the  emi- 
gration to  California  became  immense.  Among  these  were 
many  Catholics;  but  FMthcr  Gonzalez,  a  highly  educated  and  . 
e'llightf^ned  man,  saw  himself  powerless.  The  Mexicans  weicf 
swept  aside  as  they  had  swept  the  Indians.  lie  had  no  priests 
able  to  ministei-  to  the  new  flock.  A  city  was  growing  up  at 
San  Fran<-iseo;  but  tlie  Catholics  could  attend  mass  only  at  the 
chapel  three  miles  off,  and  the  priest  there,  with   other   large 


( 

~1' 


694  THE   CATHOLIC   CHUllCH 

missions  under  his  care,  could  not  give  them  adequate  atten- 
tion. Father  Gonzalez  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  Catholics 
of  California.  Piovidentially,  with  the  emigrants  from  Oiegon, 
came  the  Rev.  J,  B.  Brouillet,  and  Rev.  E.  Langlois,  and  the 
Jesuit  Fathers  Accolti  and  Nobili. 

A  subscription  was  taken  up  in  San  Francisco,  and  a  lot  witli 
a  wooden  shanty  purchased.  It  was  blessed  June  17th,  1849, 
and  the  holy  sacrifice  ofTered  in  it  for  the  first  time.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Langlois,  appointed  vicar-general  by  the  Very  Rev.  admin- 
istrator, relieved  him  of  much  of  his  sudden  responsibility. 

As  part  of  the  original  Diocese  of  California  was  now  in 
each  Republic,  the  Holy  See  erected  the  See  of  Monterey,  with 
jurisdiction  over  American  California.  An  eminent  Dominican, 
a  Spaniard  by  birth,  but,  at  the  time,  provincial  of  his  order  in 
Ohio,  was  appointed  to'  the  new  see,  and  consecrated  at  Rome 
by  Cardinal  Franzoni,  on  the  loth  of  June,  1850.  Bishop 
Alemany  came  at  once  to  his  diocese,  accompanied  by  Very 
Rev.  Father  Vilarrasa,  and  Mother  Mary  Goemare,  both  of  the 
Dominican  order,  who  proposed  to  found  religious  establish- 
ments. The  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  also  came  from  Oregon, 
and  priests  responded  to  the  bishop's  call  for  aid,  one  of  the 
Dominicans,  Father  Anderson,  a  convert,  soon  to  die  while  at- 
tending Catholic  patients. 

In  1852,  the  Sisters  of  Charity  came  and  established  an 
orphan  asylum,  as  well  as  free  schools,  and  soon  opened  St. 
Vincent's  Seminnry  near  San  Rafael.  As  the  new  population 
became  more  settled,  churches  wei  e  established  at  various  points. 
In  the  commencement  of  the  year  1852,  the  Bishop  of  Monterey 
had  twenty-eight  churches,  and  thirty  priests ;  a  seminary  ;  a 
college,  just  opened  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers  at  Santa  Clara;  and 
more  than  thiriy-one  thousand  C;;tholics  in  his  extensive  diocese. 
The  churches  at  many  of  the  old  mission  sites  were  again  hal- 
lowed by  the   services  of  religion,  and  new  churches  arose  at 


IX   THE    UNITED    STATES.  G95 

Sacramento,  Marvsville,  Stockton,  and  San  Francisco  bad  already 
its  second  cburcli — St.  Patrick's. 

Thy  bishop  felt  unable  to  attend  properly  to  so  large  a  dio- 
cese, \vi;h  a  rapidly  increasing  flock.  The  Holy  Sec,  on  the 
SiJtb  of  July,  1853,  to  relieve  bini,  erected  the  part  of  tbo  State, 
from  Santa  Cniz  southward  to  the  Mexican  border,  into  the 
Diocese  of  Monterey,  and  establif^hed  a  new  see  at  San  Francisco, 
to  which  Dr.  Alemany  was  promoted,  with  the  dignity  of  arch- 
bishop. 

In  1854,  the  Presentation  Nuns,  and  the  Sisters  of  Mercy, 
obtained  in  Ireland  by  the  Kev.  II.  P.  Gallaher,  came  to  give 
their  aid  in  education  and  woiks  of  charity,  St.  Marv's  Hos- 
pital was  soon  opened  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  who  soon  added 
to  their  good  works  an  Asylum  for  Fallen  Women.  When  small- 
pox became  prevalent  they  offered  to  take  charge  of  the  hospital. 
The  same  year  the  archbishop  btgan  a  diocesan  seminary  at 
Dolores  Mission,  and  dedicated  a  fine  cathedial  \Nhich  he  had 
completed. 

In  1861,  the  northern  part  of  the  State  was  formed  into  ihe 
Vicaria:e-Apostolic  of  Marvsville ;  and  the  Diocese  of  San  Fran- 
cisco has  since  embraced  the  part  of  California  and  Nevada 
between  37°  6'  and  39°  northern  latitude,  and  has  temporarily 
annexed  to  it  Utah  Territory. 

On  the  15th  of  July,  1862,  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  held  a 
synod  of  his  diocese,  attended  by  his  vicar-general,  the  Very  Rev. 
James  Croke,  and  Very  Rev.  P.  Magagnotto,  and  thirty-one 
secular  priests,  and  eleven  belonging  to  the  order  of  St.  Dominic 
and  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Constitutions  were  adopted  suite<l  to 
the  altered  state  of  the  country,  and  conforming  to  the  decisiens 
of  the  Holy  See  on  some  points  of  difficulty. 

At  the  close  of  1878  the  Diocese  of  San  Francisco  had  one 
hundred  and  three  churches  and  sixiecn  chapels,  five  colleges, 
ten   academies,   thiriy-five  parochial  schools,  four  asylums,  five 


696  THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH 

hospitals,  and  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  Catholics; 
am^jiig  whom  weie  laboring  seventy  secular  priests,  and  fifty- 
eight  regulars.  Benicia  bad  a  Duniinicaii  convent;  San  Fran- 
cisco, a  Jesuit  College  of  St.  Ignatius  ;  ihe  Cliiistian  Brothers 
had  a  novitiate  at  Oakland,  and  a  college  in  San  Francisco, 
dedicated  to  St.  Mary  ;  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Family  and  of  the 
Holy  Name  of  Jesus  and  Mary  were  among  the  zealous  laborers 
iu  the  vineyard. 

DIOCESE   OF   MONTEREY. 

We  have  already  sketched  a  history  of  this  diocese  while  it 
formed  part  of  the  Diocese  of  Both  Californias,  and  while  it  em- 
braced the  State  of  California.  On  the  promotion  of  Archbishop 
Alemany,  the  Rev.  Thaddeus  Amat,  of  the  Congregation  of  the 
Missions,  a  native  of  Barcelona,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Mon- 
terey, on  the  12th  of  March,  1854.  This  diocese  embraced  many 
of  the  old  missions,  and  of  the  old  settlers  of  Spanish  origin,  to 
the  number  of  twenty-six  thousand,  as  well  as  some  who  were 
attracted  by  the  security  of  the  new  government,  and  thegrea'.er 
opportunity  afforded.  As  mining  became  less  attractive  many 
from  other  parts  of  the  United  States  began  to  settle  here. 
Bishop  Amat  thus  found  himself  with  seventeen  priests,  twenty- 
three  churches,  the  diocesan  Seminary  of  Oar  Lady  of  Guada- 
lupe, at  Santa  Inez,  and  the  Franciscan  College  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Faith,  at  Santa  Barbara.  He  took  up  his  residence 
at  Monterey. 

In  1856  he  obtained  Sisters  of  Charity  from  Etnmettsburgh, 
who  opened  an  asylum  and  school  at  Los  Angeles  :  an  academy 
was  their  next  good  w'ork,  then  an  hospital.  Santa  Barbara  soon 
after  enjoyed  the  blessing  of  their  labors. 

The  bishop  next  visited  Europe  to  obtain  additional  aid 
for  his  diocese,  and  brought  back  Priests  of  the  Mission  and  Sis- 
ters of  Charity.     He  then  made  Los  Angeles  his  residence,  the 


IX   THE    UNITED    STATES.  G97 

see  being  called  Monterey  and  Los  Anjiclcs.  There  tbc  Laz- 
arists  soon  opened  St.  V^incent's  College;  an^l,  in  a  few  ye;irs, 
wii  find  Brothers  of  the  Third  Order  of  Sl  Francis  directing 
the  parochial  schools  at  Los  Angeles.  The  Sisters  of  the  Im- 
maculate Heart  of  Mary  were  th.e  next  community  to  lal>or  in 
this  old  Catholic  ground,  founding  houses  at  Pajaro  Vale,  Saii 
Juan  Bautista  and  Gilroy, 

xVniid  his  labors  fur  his  diocese  Bishop  Amat  found  himself 
afflicted  with  a  spinal  atTection,  causing  intense  pain,  but  not 
disturbing  his  serenity.  Yet  assistance  became  necessary  ;  and 
his  vicar-general,  Francis  Mora,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of 
Mossynopolis,  i?i  jjartlbus^  and  coadjutor  of  Monterey,  July 
3d,  1873. 

Bishop  Amat  lived  to  see  his  new  cathedral  dedicated,  in 
honor  of  St.  Vibiana,  April  9th,  18T6  ;  and  died,  at  the  age  of 
sixty -seven,  on  the  12lh  -of  May,  1878,  leaving  a  diocese  with 
fifty-ono  priests,  thirty-two  churches,  fifteen  chapels,  and  thiity- 
tvvo  stations ;  six  female  academies,  several  parochial  schools, 
asylums,  and  other  charitable  institutions. 

Bishop  Mora  succeeded  to  the  See  of  Monterey  ;  and,  at  the 
close  of  1878,  estimated  the  Catholics  in  his  diocese  at  twenty- 
one  thousand — thi-ee  thousand  beting  Lidians,  a  remnant  of  those 
who  once  peopled  the  missions.  The  number  of  churches  had 
risen  to  thirty-two,  and  tliat  of  priests  to  thirty-eight. 

DIOCESE  OF  GRASS  VALLEY. 
Of  the  mining  country  north  of  Sacramento  the  pioneer  priest 
was  the  Rev.  John  Shanahan,  one  of  the  earliest  ordained  priests 
of  New  York,  who,  fixing  his  residence  at  Nevada  City,  visited 
the  Catholics  far  and  wide,  saying  mass  in  any  temporary 
structure  he  could  find.  The  first  church  was  a  poor  little 
wooden  afiiair  at  Grass  Valley,  where  he  labored  till  he  lost  his 
siofht. 


698  THE  catholic;  chuech 

The  Passioni^t  Fatlier  Magognotto,  in  1853,  began  his  labors 
at  Marysville,  and  subsequently  established  a  house  of  his  order 
at  Virginia  City.  The  next  year  Nevada  had  a  pastor.  Missions 
ui  re  established  also  at  Weaverville ;  in  Placer,  Eldorado, 
Aniada,  Calaveras,  and  Tuolumne  counties.  It  was  deemed 
best  to  form  this  part  of  the  country  into  a  separate  diocese  ; 
and  the  Kight  Rev.  Eugene  O'Connell,  of  the  Diocese  of  Meath, 
Ireland,  who  had  been  professor  at  All  Hallows,  was  consecrated 
February  od,  1861,  Bishop  of  Flaviopolis,  and  Vicar-Apostolic 
of  Marysville.  The  district  was  wide  and  the  clergy  few.  He 
obtained  a  community  of  Passionists,  but  they  soon  retired  ; 
Sisters  of  Mercy  and  Sisters  of  Charity  began  their  good  work 
in  the  vicariate  ;  and  an  orphan  society  was  commenced  in  Grass 
Valley  in  1866. 

On  the  22d  of  March,  1868,  the  Diocese  of  Grass  Valley  was 
erected ;  and  the  next  year  the  Fathers  of  the  Precious  Blood 
entered  the  diocese,  and,  fixing  their  residence  at  Ruhnerville, 
opened  St.  Joseph's  College,  but,  after  a  few  years'  mission  work, 
they  withdrew.      The  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  were  recalled. 

The  Round  Valley  reservation  contained  several  hundred 
Catholic  Indians,  descendants  of  the  old  converts  of  the  missions. 
A  zealous  and  humble  priest,  the  Rev.  Luciano  Osuna,  was  as- 
signed to  care  for  them  ;  but  it  is  scarcely  credible,  and  seems  a 
calumny  on  America,  to  say  that  the  reservation  was  placed  by 
Government  under  the  control  of  fanatics,  who  prevented  the 
priest  from  ministering  to  his  tiock,  and  even  used  violence  to 
the  minister  of  Almighty  God  for  attempting,  in  defiance  of  an 
Indian  agent,  to  administer  the  rites  of  religion  to  the  descend- 
ants of  those  who  were  converted  and  civilized  by  the  original 
occupants  of  California,  Father  Juniper  Serra  and  his  associates. 
But  it  is  only  too  true :  and  the  History  of  the  Church  in  the 
United  States,  with  much  that  is  honorable  to  us  as  a  nation, 


IN   THE    UNITED   STATES.  G99 

must  close  with  this  foul  blot  on  our  escutcheon,  a  refutation  of 
our  vaunted  liberty  anil  liberality. 

Tiie  Diocese  of  Grass  Valley  is  one  of  the  raost  arduous  mis- 
sion folds.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1878  it  contained  a  widely 
scatti-red  Catholic  population  of  about  fourteen  thousand,  at- 
tended by  thirty -one  priests,  who  officiated  in  thirty-five  churches 
and  twice  as  many  stations.  Sisters  of  Mercy  and  Sisters  of 
Charity,  and  Sisters  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  devote  them- 
selves to  train  the  young  to  piety  and  learning,  to  visit  the  sick, 
to  harbor  the  fatherless. 

UTAH. 

The  territory  which,  under  the  occupancy  of  the  gross  Mor- 
mon sensualists,  seemed  to  exclude  all  Chrisiianity  from  its 
limits,  could  not  defy  Catholicity.  It  is  temporarily  under  the 
charge  of  the  Archbishop  of  San  Francisco.  Salt  Lake  City 
has  its  Church  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  as  though  calling  the 
deluded  and  fallen  women  from  polygamy  back  to  Christianity. 
A  priest  is  stationed  also  at  Ogden  ;  and  Sisters  of  the  Holy 
doss  are  laboring  in  both  places  in  academies  and  an  hospital  : 
exhibiting  a  contrast  of  what  women  can  become  under  the  pure 
light  of  the  gospel,  as  given  to  the  apostles,  and  what  she  be- 
comes under  private  judgment,  carried  out  to  the  letter. 


CONCLUSION. 


We  have  thus  briefly  sketched  the  History  of  tlie  Catholic 
Church  in  every  diocese  of  the  country,  from  the  early  settle- 
ment of  Spanish,  French,  and  English  colonies  down  to  our 
time.      Volumes   would   be    required   to  do  full  justice  to  the 


700  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

zealous  priests  and  religious — to  the  faithful — whose  fidelity  to 
their  religion,  and  sacrifice?,  did  so  much  in  each  generation 
to  bring  about  the  results  we  now  witness,  wlien  nearly  one- 
seventh  of  the  whole  population  of*  the  country  belongs  to 
this  intelligent,  harmonious  body,  the  only  real  guarantee  of  the 
future  Christianity  of  the  United  States. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  the  oldest  institution  in  the  United 
States.  From  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  to  the  close 
of  the  nineteenth  there  has  never  been  a  time  when  the  awful 
mysteries  of  faith — the  sacrifice  of  the  new  law — has  not  been 
ofi'ered  within  the  limits  of  this  country  ;  there  has  never  been  a 
time  when  priests  of  Catholicity  were  not  instructing  men  on 
our  soil  in  the  truths  of  Christianit}^,  and  administering  the 
sacraments  by  which  the  graces  of  redemption  are  imparted. 

It  is  not  only  the  oldest  institution  in  the  country,  but  the 
noblest.  It  yields  to  none  in  its  heroic  martyrs  and  mission- 
aries ;  its  priests  and  religious,  of  both  sexes,  who  fearlessly  face 
death,  whether  at  the  hand  of  the  savage  or  the  blast  of  pesti- 
lence. It  yields  to  none  in  what  it  has  done  for  the  cause  of 
education,  or  in  the  sacrifices  it  has  made  to  enlighten  and  guide 
arioht  the  risino^  o;eneration. 

Our  limits  do  not  permit  us  to  chronicle  what  has  been  done 
by  the  various  Catholic  societies,  German  and  English ;  the  tem- 
perance associations,  sodalities  of  various  kinds ;  nor  does  it  al- 
low us  to  give  the  history  of  the  Catholic  press,  and  the  good 
done  by  the  papers  and  periodicals  that  have  been  issued,  some 
edited  with  such  rare  ability  as  to  command  general  attention. 

Every  station  in  life  shows  Catholics  who  have  attained  emi- 
nence, and  we  point  to  Burke,  Taney,  Gaston,  Manly,  Daly  on 
the  bench  ;  to  O'Conor  at  the  bar ;  to  Carroll,  Fitzsimmons, 
Casserly,  Kiernan,  Bogy  in  the  senate ;  to  Kavanagh,  Carroll, 
Mouton  in  the  gubernatorial  chair;  to  our  distinguished  Catho- 
hcs  in  science,  literature,  art,  invention,  in  mercantile  life. 


IN   THE    UXITED   STATES. 


701 


The  prejudice  that  has  kept  many  of  talent  in  the  background 
is  fast  disappearino-;  and  the  future  of  Catholics  and  Catholicity 
in  the  United  States  will  he  a  grand  one  if  they  are  but  true  to 
themselves.  On  their  past  tlicy  can  look  back  with  lionest  pride, 
with  no  rancor  for  wrongs  received,  claiming  only  equal  rights, 
and  anxious  to  do  all  for  the  greatest,  best,  and  noblest  interests 
of  our  country. 


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<<                       "               *'          gilt  edges. 3  i)0 

Schmidts  Exquisite  Tales.    6  vols ^2? 

Shipwreck.    A  Tale •  ^O 

Savage's  Poems '^  ^2 

Subil :  A  Drama.     By  John  Savage 7o 

Treatise  on  Sixteen  Names  of  Ireland.     By 

Rev.  J.  O'Leary,  D.D g^ 

Two  Cottages.     By  Lady  Fullerton 5€J 

Think  Well  On't.    Large  type JJJ 

Thornherry  Abbey.    A  Tale W 

Three  Eleanors.    A  Tale ^2 

r/ 1>  /o  France.    Rev.  J.  Donelan ^S 

Three  Kings  of  Cologne. gjf 

Universal  Header ^J 

Vision,  of  Old  Andrew  the  Weaver oil 

Visits  to  the  Blessed  Satyi  anient »jj 

Willg  Beillif.     Paper  cover ^^ 

Wa y  of  fh  c  Cross.     14  Illustrations o 

Western  3fissions  an d  Missionaries "^  iL^ 

WalJ.er's  Bicfionary ^ 

Youu g  Cffpfives.    A  Tale » gJJ 

Youth's  Birector gjj 

Young  Crusaders.    A  Tale ^^ 

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